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Ugh. Can we please, please give him the courtesy of calling him the Prime Minister?

This is a pet peeve of mine, I grant. This isn’t front-page news, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But it rankled, for two main reasons.

The first is that Canadians need to start respecting their institutions more. We’re already seeing down south what happens when people become so disconnected from their governments and political parties that they start to view them as the enemy. I don’t particularly like government, and as a conservative, I tend to think it’s one of the crappiest available vehicles for pursuing worthwhile goals (sometimes the only realistic vehicle, I know, but never a particularly good one). Still, I’m a Canadian before I’m a conservative, and my country matters to me. The symbols of that country matter to me. The institutions matter to me. And the people serving in positions of authority may not deserve my vote or personal admiration, but I’ll always try to treat them with the respect their office deserves.

Sometimes I’ll fail, when my objections to a person’s character or their policy positions override my gentler angels. But it’s something still worth striving for. I will always speak respectfully of Prime Minister Trudeau not because I voted for him (I didn’t) or because I support his policies (I generally don’t). I’ll respect him because he’s the Prime Minister of my country, and I love my country. And if the Liberals are defeated, I’ll treat the next guy or girl with just as much respect not because of who they are but what they are.