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This time around, small flags were used to identify the 1977 tree — except, whoever’s job it was to bring a Belgian flag accidentally brought a German flag, causing a frenzy among the flabbergasted Belgian media.

Do Canadian officials know the difference between the people we were defending and those we were fighting against?

Mistaking their flag with the German’s is a slap in the face to our Belgian friends, and Trudeau’s snub adds insult to injury. But in the aftermath of Trudeau’s disastrous trip to India, Canadians are learning that our reputation on the world stage isn’t what it used to be.

We’re also seeing first hand that Trudeau’s advisers aren’t the brain trust they’ve been made out to be, and the professional foreign service is often anything but professional.

How else to explain why national security adviser Daniel Jean, a career civil servant, would concoct a conspiracy theory to protect Trudeau? Jean pushed a story that “rogue political agents” in India had planted a terrorist in Trudeau’s delegation to embarrass our PM — a theory that has been utterly debunked.

But Jean is not alone in going out of his way to promote the Trudeau Liberals.

Peter Boehm, another career civil servant and top adviser for the G7 meeting being hosted in Quebec later this year, let his Liberal flag fly at a recent public event.

“I don’t want to get political, but I will for a moment,” said Boehm, openly showing his partisan stripes.

“For 10 years, anything that the foreign service was doing was suppressed in our country,” he said. “With the current government, we have an opportunity to put our best foot forward to show what it is we can do (and) highlight our professionalism.”