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Next to the flaccid list of achievements, these “stumbles” reflect serious failures. Trudeau’s inability to produce a coherent excuse for selling preferred access to government leaders to wealthy donors has made him look stubborn, ridiculous and ill-prepared. After proudly releasing a tough ethics code on taking office, he and his top ministers are now flagrantly defying it in the face of a growing wave of public scorn, suggesting a resurgence of the arrogance for which Liberals have long been known.

The cash-for-access foolishness follows close on the heels of the complete meltdown of Trudeau’s electoral reform plan, which left observers wondering whether the party ever had a plan at all, beyond announcing there would never be another election under existing rules. If Trudeau and his advisers did have a well thought-out strategy, no one seems to have told Maryam Monsef, the young and inexperienced minister stuck with trying to sell it.

The government’s embrace of Tory security laws, and the reluctance to adopt damaging tax laws, were both predictable. It’s easy to bleat sanctimoniously in opposition, but the responsibilities that come with power tend to open the eyes to reality. But perhaps most inevitable of all was Ottawa’s inability to wave a hand and clear away the centuries of distrust and suspicion that have so deeply scarred relations with aboriginals.

On the campaign trail Trudeau insisted – whether through naivete, inexperience or cynicism isn’t clear – that good intentions and the keys to the Treasury were the only things necessary to bring about reconciliation with Canada’s diverse and disgruntled aboriginals. It appeared never to have occurred to the Trudeau team that previous governments had come to power with equally high-minded intentions, only to run into the minefield of competing interests, fluid leadership and unmeetable demands that scuppered their efforts. Both Jean Chretien and Stephen Harper made sincere attempts to introduce much-needed reforms, only to see them run aground on native resistance. Trudeau, convinced of sunny ways, unwisely raised hopes once again and is now seeing them crumble. It’s unfortunate, and may only add to the bitterness on both sides in the end.