Since the day Justin Trudeau formally entered the Liberal leadership race, Conservative politicians and right-wing commentators have worked relentlessly to portray him as a “policy light” pretty boy who lacks the experience to head a major political party.

The Conservatives will step up that campaign with a wave of attack ads immediately following the Liberals’ announcement on April 14 of their new leader, which will undoubtedly be Trudeau.

The ads reportedly will paint Trudeau as “not ready to lead” and question his lack of detailed policies.

Earlier Tory smear campaigns worked well against former Liberal leaders Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff, both of whom failed to take them seriously until the damage to their image was done.

But branding Trudeau as too inexperienced ranks near the top of Conservative hypocrisy.

Indeed, Conservatives should first look hard at their own leadership history, both federally and provincially, before they go after Trudeau.

That’s because Stephen Harper and other Conservative leaders had shockingly less experience and far fewer policies when they entered politics and became party leader than Trudeau.

In fact, the slogan “not ready to lead” would better describe Harper, former Ontario premier Mike Harris and current Ontario Tory Leader Tim Hudak when they won their party’s leadership than it does Trudeau.

On Saturday, Trudeau will have one last chance to outline his experience to Liberal loyalists before voting starts for the new leader.

Hundreds of party faithful will gather at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the “Leadership National Showcase,” where Trudeau and the five other remaining candidates will deliver their final campaign speeches. Official voting will take place by phone and email and will start shortly after the speeches. The voting closes at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 14.

Trudeau should take full advantage of the opportunity because even some Liberals worry about his experience level.

And while Trudeau’s resumé does lack major business or institutional accomplishments or a lengthy track record in a profession, it is not without reasonable heft. He has a BA from McGill University and a bachelor of education degree from the University of British Columbia. He taught social studies and French at Vancouver high schools, served as chair of the now-defunct Katimavik youth volunteer program, studied engineering at the University of Montreal and was partway to a master’s degree in environmental geography at McGill when he was elected in 2008 as a federal MP.

In comparison, Harper’s work resumé when he became Canadian Alliance (nee Reform) party leader in 2002 was even thinner than Trudeau’s is today.

Other than working in a few low-level jobs, starting in the mail room, for Imperial Oil in Alberta, Harper has spent his entire life in conservative politics. He has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Calgary, but never worked as an economist.

At age 22 Harper went to work for Calgary MP Jim Hawkes. He later became the Reform party’s first chief policy officer, spent one term as a Reform MP, and then spent four years as the head of the National Citizens Coalition, a rabidly right-wing lobby group with hardly any staff.

Similarly, the background of two of Ontario’s most recent Tory leaders has been extremely weak.

Mike Harris dropped out of the first university he attended to become a ski instructor, later taught a few years in a North Bay elementary school before quitting again to work at his dad’s ski-hill operation and later as a golf pro. He was first elected as an MPP in 1981, served only a few weeks as a minor cabinet minister in 1985 and became party leader in 1990.

Tim Hudak’s resumé is even weaker than that of Harris. Although he earned a master’s degree in economics, he has never worked in that field. Instead, he worked for just one year as a Walmart travelling manager before being elected as an MPP in 1995 at age 27. Hudak served as an undistinguished junior minister in the final years of the Harris government.

On policy, Harper, Harris and Hudak could easily have been tagged as “policy lightweights,” running their respective leadership campaigns on vague plans to “cut taxes, cut government programs” and with no concrete policies on how they would achieve any of it.

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Not ready to lead?

By the standards set by Harper, Harris and Hudak during their leadership bids, Justin Trudeau is fully prepared.

Bob Hepburn’s column appears Thursday. bhepburn@thestar.ca .

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