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The speech was also notable for the more aggressive line Mr. Mulcair took going after those progressive voters who have told pollsters they intend to vote Liberal.

The NDP leader made much of his 35 years of in public life and his experience around the Quebec Cabinet table. “Being Prime Minister is not an entry-level job. Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll invite Canadians to ask themselves which leader has the experience to defeat Mr. Harper and the plan to repair the damage he’s done,” he said.

Not only does the Liberal leader lack experience, he lacks a plan. “Justin Trudeau still believes that he can just inherit power without proposing a thing,” he said.

This is an attack that has a limited life-span — the Liberals will eventually break cover with a platform.

Then we will be back to contrasting the relative merits of the two men. The problem is that the Conservatives have been selling this line since Mr. Trudeau was elected leader and polls suggests voters aren’t buying.

An Abacus poll from last fall suggested only one in four Canadians agrees Mr. Trudeau is in over his head. Another 28% said they felt he could learn on the job, while 23% said they were unsure and needed to see more of the Liberal leader.

In short, voters are giving Mr. Trudeau the benefit of the doubt — the political equivalent of being bulletproof.

Mr. Mulcair looked like the coming man when he was elected leader. A progressive mirror image of Stephen Harper, he was deemed experienced, ruthless and tough enough to play the Prime Minister at his own game.