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Asked specifically to clarify that he is “not against bombing,” Trudeau replied: “Indeed.”

But he then said, “There is a wide range of things that Canada can do.”

The Royal Canadian Air Force is “outstanding” in what it does, he said, “but I know that we have different ways that we can be possibly even more helpful to our friends and allies.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion also addressed Canada’s contributions in combating ISIL.

Asked when Canadians will have a clear idea what the Canadian military will do in the coalition’s campaign against the Islamic State, Dion said: “We’re working on it.” The federal government is consulting Canada’s allies, including at the Commonwealth summit, to see how it can best contribute other than with airstrikes, he said. Canada’s move away from bombing to become “more effective” in the coalition is being “well received” by allies, he maintained.

On another front, Trudeau was asked in his BBC interview about what his election win says about disenchantment with the political establishment in many western countries.

Trudeau replied that the recent federal election showed that “more divisive positions” were very popular with some people – no doubt referring to the Conservatives making the niqab an election issue.

“But when you get right down to it, when citizens take a long hard look in the ballot box about actually voting against your neighbour, against someone who is different than you, in pluralistic societies like we have, it becomes very difficult to sustain the hatred or the fear of the shopkeeper you see down the street every day or your colleague from two cubicles over, and that dynamic is what is really a source of optimism for me,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau was also asked in the interview whether he’s embarrassed to be a part of a Canadian political dynasty, considering he’s standing for a new kind of politics.

“No, because I’m incredibly proud of my father, the values he stood for, the place he gave Canada on the world stage, and I respect Canadians’ intelligence. I know that if I’m sitting here as prime minister, it has very little to do with my last name,” Trudeau said.

“I don’t deny that doors opened up for me. The way I was raised was that I have to work two or three times as hard as anyone else would to walk through that door now that it was opened,” he added. “And I think Canadians get that. There’s an awful lot of people who sort of shrugged and said ‘Oh, he has nothing but a name to go on,’ and found themselves slightly bewildered as I left them in the dust.”