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OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau has created an illusion of himself as a leader more noble and principled than the facts warrant.

Yet, it can still be a shock when it’s revealed he’s as calculating as the most cynical of his predecessors, greeting each new situation with the internal question: “What can this do for me?”

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The mask slipped Wednesday, with the release of a report by Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion that found him in contravention of the Conflict of Interest Act for the second time — just two years after he had his knuckles wrapped for taking a Christmas vacation on an island in the Bahamas owned by the Aga Khan.

Much of the narrative is known but the written testimony submitted by the prime minister last month is new and it will make uncomfortable reading for Liberals, revealing as it does the disconnect between the toothy feminist, preaching positive politics, and the egotist, happy to lay down his friends for his political life.