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Here’s the worst bit: it’s not like Leitch was hit with a question out of left field.

Everybody and their mother knew Leitch would be clobbered with barbaric cultural practices questions and this was the best she could do? Stand by it. Apologize unreservedly for it. But for God’s sake don’t try to split the mushy middle, as Leitch tried to do, and please no one.

Was she this reliant on Nick Kouvalis, her recently departed campaign manager? Or perhaps she was paying homage to his literal car crash with a metaphorical one of her own? Did the rump of her campaign team not have enough time for focus groups?

They probably did, and that’s the problem. Leitch’s answer smacked of disingenuous word-smithing, and not the heart.

Memo to Conservatives: have you not been watching Justin Trudeau? Do you think heart is ever left out of his political equations, even the fake quantum computing ones? The man’s secret ingredient is his love for the job. And, from the looks of his recent escapades in New York, the perks that come with it. But I digress.

People are gaga over Justin Trudeau because he doesn’t seem like a normal politician. It’s a bit of a trend. See: Trump, Donald J. The next Conservative leader will have to come from a different mould.

By spilling this ink I’m implying the Leitch candidacy was somehow viable, when it was always dead on arrival. So are Maxime Bernier and Michael Chong, in case you’re wondering. And that’s no slight to any of them; to stand, as they have, for public office, is a noble thing for which I applaud them.