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I’ve come to admire Justin Trudeau, who could be Canada’s prime minister-designate by this time next week.

How could I not? As a student of politics for more than 40 years, how could I avoid quiet admiration for anyone who could run a campaign as sneakily unprincipled as Trudeau’s, and get away with it? Teamed with his very own master of the dark arts – a graduate of the Dalton McGuinty school of unprincipled power – Trudeau has pulled off one of the great campaigns of recent history: a flagrantly dishonest run for office, based on a pledge of honesty. It’s brilliant. If I were Hillary Clinton, I’d be consulting Gerry Butts three times a day. Despite 23 years in the U.S. spotlight, Clinton still hasn’t learned to mesmerize innocents with the skills of the Liberal campaign.

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I had to concede Justin’s skills after reading his remarks on Tout le monde en parle, the Radio-Canada interview show renowned for its tough treatment of politicians. Asked if he’d cancel the $15 billion deal to sell light-armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia – condemned by human rights advocates due to that country’s lengthy record of abuses – Trudeau justified his refusal by insisting “they’re not arms, they’re Jeeps,” and claiming the sale isn’t a deal between Canada and the Saudi governments, but is “an agreement between a manufacturing company here and Canada and Saudi Arabia.”