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The slur has always been that Justin Trudeau is a drama teacher.

Unfair though it may be to actual drama teachers, the implication is that he is frivolous, juvenile, emotional, more appearance than substance, and no more a real leader than the kid up on stage in tights and a tunic is really Peter Pan.

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In short, the predominant political insult against Trudeau is that he is an actor.

The events of this week have put that image under a revealing spotlight and summoned some ugly shadows.

As a result, the 2019 ballot question may have just changed, thanks to an American magazine’s digging up an old photo. It might not be the familiar worry about health care or economics. Now the prime minister’s character is in question precisely because of the characters and caricatures he has gleefully portrayed, from Aladdin to Harry Belafonte and whatever the most recent blackface image to emerge was supposed to be, which he says was taken on a dress-up day at the white water rafting outfitter where he worked, emphasis on the white.