It is undeniable that Chrystia Freeland is a strong Liberal candidate in the Toronto Centre byelection in her own right, but equally undeniable that the former journalist will soar with Justin Trudeau or crash with Justin Trudeau.

And because the Nov. 25 byelection, in which she is pitted against a tough challenger in New Democrat Linda McQuaig, is gaining deserved national attention, morning coffee with the candidate on this day includes not just cappuccino and Toronto issues, but a chat about Chinese tyranny and a side order of Michael Ignatieff.

Freeland is Trudeau’s hand-picked candidate after the two met at her Toronto book launch about a year ago and she has used Trudeau’s star power while canvassing in the riding.

But that was before Trudeau, in his most recent visit, unholstered without warning and began firing at his own foot and any other available limb before running out of bullets.

The Liberal leader left a controversy about a “ladies night” fundraiser and a bizarre statement of admiration for the Chinese dictatorship behind when he left town, but Freeland is still here and dealing with the questions.

Initially, Freeland tries to point to the difference between “elite discourse and the at-the-door discourse’’ in explaining that Trudeau’s China comments and his questionable marketing to women are not being discussed at the doorstep, where she must first explain there is a byelection at hand.

But as a longtime journalist she knows she would have demanded the Trudeau comments for her publication or website.

“I understand that if you make unscripted remarks sometimes they won’t come out quite right,’’ she says. “As both a nascent politician and as a citizen, I want to have politicians who can speak with some degree of openness allowed in public and think thoughts in public and speak not just in pre-poll tested sound bites.’’

“Brilliant musings” will go unreported in today’s news cycle, she says, but the hammer comes down when one stumbles. And Trudeau stumbled, before he flat out crumpled.

As a Ukrainian-Canadian, Freeland adds: “Having grown up in a family which fled the former Soviet Union, I have very strong and personal views about how Communist regimes work and how they don’t work . . . and about their brittleness.’’

Freeland calls herself a “recovering journalist,’’ but she redefines the clichéd “ink-stained wretch.’’

She is a Rhodes Scholar, a Harvard graduate, a celebrated author and contributor to The New York Times, a former Globe and Mail deputy editor, a correspondent and editor based in Moscow and London, former global editor-at-large of Reuters, onetime U.S. managing editor at the Financial Times in New York, a regular at global conferences from Aspen to Banff to Davos and a staple of U.S. political shows from Bill Maher to Charlie Rose.

Here at home that usually guarantees two things — skills needed as a retail politician are learned (or not) on the job and there will be inevitable comparisons to another Liberal saviour, Ignatieff, who was plucked from the intellectual heights abroad and dropped into the narrow confines of Canadian politics.

The two share common universities, Eastern European heritage, and international careers — they even won the same Lionel Gelber book prize — before returning home to introduce themselves to Canadian voters.

Freeland may now be a Toronto Centre homeowner putting down roots with three children, Natalka, 12 (born in Toronto), Halyna, 8 and Ivan, 4.

But she has spent fewer than three of the past 21 years in Canada. Ignatieff was successfully savaged by Conservatives for a similar “sin.’’

“There are lots of ways to live a Canadian life,’’ she says.

One, she says, is the deeply rooted life chosen by her father who never left Peace River, Alta., but for his time in university.

“There’s also a life like mine,’’ she says. “I’ve always felt myself to be very Canadian, always intended at some point to come home.

“My international experience is part of what I am offering. It is a huge part of my life.’’

An international perspective is key in a globalized economy, she says, but she always made clear in her writings that she is a Canadian.

Toronto Centre has a rich Liberal pedigree, most recently represented by former interim leader Bob Rae, but Freeland is adamant she is taking nothing for granted.

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Besides McQuaig, she is up against Geoff Pollock of the Conservatives and Green Party candidate John Deverell.

A chat with McQuaig will be featured in a future column.