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It was, in other words, a wild ride.

“Some of you are probably here because you’ve heard of my son,” she had acknowledged at the start, pausing, “Kyle.” Kyle’s sister Alicia —both the product of Trudeau’s second marriage, to developer Fried Kemper — was in the front row Thursday, beaming with pride for her mother.

Kyle’s half-brother Justin, the current prime minister of Canada, was a presence too, if not physically. His office did not respond to the Post’s question Thursday about whether a trip to the Windy City factors into his Mother’s Day plans. But his face was usually featured on one of several screens on either side of Trudeau’s lectern that displayed family photos for much of the performance. His mother mentioned him only a few times, noting for example that it was from her he’d gotten his “dramatic flair.”

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

It was about an hour in, during an exploration of whether she believes in God, that Trudeau let her pride in the current prime minister shine brightest. Her faith in the great religions had waned, she recounted, after an audience she and Pierre had with the Pope in Rome resulted not in a spiritual discussion but in a literal pat on the head as he offered that she was “blessed among women” for bearing children. Ditto an interaction with the Dalai Lama in which, she says, he called her “the mother of the world.”

“Two religious world leaders talking about me as an important mother figure. It was a little grandiose. It’s not like I went on to have some brilliant, incredible child, born on Christmas Day, who turned out to be the leader of a nation who can save the world,” she said, a nod to Justin, born Dec. 25. “Oh, and another Christmas baby,” she added, referring to Justin’s younger brother Sasha, who shares his birthday — “equally wonderful, to step in in case he doesn’t get it all done.”