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That creates opportunities for the opposition parties, but they both have work to do to convince Canadians they would be more effective stewards of the economy than the Tories.

Justin Trudeau’s challenge is to persuade voters he is not too callow to run a Group of Seven economy.

As part of that effort, he has recruited several experienced candidates with rich backgrounds in the private sector to bolster his economic team.

The man some are tagging as the finance minister in any Trudeau government is Bill Morneau, chairman of Canada’s largest human resources firm, Morneau Shepell.

He is running in the riding of Toronto Centre, where he can expect a stiff challenge from New Democratic Party candidate, Linda McQuaig, who lost by just 4,554 votes to Chrystia Freeland in a byelection 16 months ago, after Bob Rae retired from politics. (Ms. Freeland is moving to a neighbouring riding.)

Even if he falls at the first hurdle, the former C.D. Howe Institute head has already made his mark on the policies we are likely to see being rolled out in the Liberal platform.

In an interview over beer and beef tips, the 52-year-old father of four, who earned $1-million last year, proved he is a quick learner in the art of political obfuscation, cautious about revealing too much.

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But my distinct impression is a Liberal government with Mr. Morneau as finance minister would do the following: increase taxes for those in the upper brackets, redistributing that money to middle-income earners; means-test benefits such as the universal child-care credit; introduce tough emission caps on provinces, while letting them devise their own climate change policies; turn on the spending taps to try to kick start economic growth by investing billions in public infrastructure, even if it meant sliding back into deficit; and be far more interventionist in education, training and business subsidies.