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She called the Conservative attack ads on her son, which have been airing mainly during televised sporting events and show Justin Trudeau removing his shirt during a charity event, an “unfortunate” American practice that is politically effective.

But while she called for an end to “bullying” in politics, she took her own parting shot at Harper.

“If Stephen Harper took off his shirt in public, I’m not sure he’d raise any money for charity,” she reportedly told the crowd.

The Conservatives went on the offensive against Trudeau within 24 hours of his election as Liberal leader in mid-April.

Their first volley of ads featured video of Trudeau removing his shirt at a liver cancer charity event set to carnival question and declared the new Liberal leader “in over his head.”

The ads were widely-criticized for both the use of the charity event, which Trudeau’s mock striptease helped raise money for, and for an impressively-out-of-context quote attributed to Trudeau.

The Liberals launched their own ad in response, in which Trudeau sits in a classroom, turns off a Conservative attack ad against him and asks Canadians for a “channel change” from negative politics.

The Conservatives also plan to send out a number of flyers to Canadians across the country attacking Trudeau by using the taxpayer-funded “ten percenters” mailouts.

A number of Conservative MPs have said they will not participate in the move.

“I haven’t sent out an attack ten-percenter for over four years,” Edmonton Tory MP Laurie Hawn told The Canadian Press. “It’s just not my style.”

“I don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to do it,” added Joe Daniel, a Toronto Conservative MP.

Some MPs told the newswire service that some their constituents have complained about the issue.

Margaret Trudeau, then 22, married prime minister Pierre Trudeau in March 1971 and the couple had Justin Trudeau about nine months later. The Trudeaus officially divorced in 1984.

Margaret Trudeau wrote about her struggles with depression in her memoir “Changing my Mind,” published in 2010.