Article content

Liberal leadership frontrunner Justin Trudeau appears to have little problem embracing his father’s controversial legacy when it comes to taking potshots at Prime Minister Stephen Harper. And neither does it appear that the Prime Minister’s Office has any issue with using the words of Pierre Trudeau to take potshots at Justin Trudeau.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'Fuddle duddle': PMO responds to Justin Trudeau's 'Just watch me' with their own Pierre Trudeau quote Back to video

On a near-empty Porter Airlines flight from Halifax to Ottawa Tuesday evening, Trudeau was sent a note from a fellow passenger asking: “Can you really beat Harper?”

“Just watch me,” Trudeau wrote back, invoking Pierre Trudeau’s famous phrase during the 1970 October Crisis.

Michael Kydd of Nova Scotia sent the note, later saying on Twitter that “I now have a great story for my children!”

It didn’t take long for the eye-rolling to begin in Conservative circles, and Harper’s spokesperson issued a cheeky retort of his own using the words of former prime minister Trudeau.

Andrew MacDougall posted his own note on Twitter that asked: “What do you think of Justin Trudeau’s ‘Just watch me’ note?”

“Fuddle duddle,” was MacDougall’s response, invoking Pierre Trudeau’s greatest addition to the Canadian lexicon.

For the kids — “Fuddle duddle” is what Pierre Trudeau claimed that he said in the House of Commons towards opposition members, when he was accused of mouthing for them to “Eff off.” (Hint: You pronounced whole words in the 1970s)

The younger Trudeau would later echo his father’s “unparliamentary language” in December 2011 in a less eloquent, but more transparent, manner.

‘Just watch me’ an Internet home run

Trudeau, long-criticized in some circles for being a better wielder of social media charm than public policy, provided more ammo for that assertion as the note made the front page of Reddit, one of the Internet’s biggest traffic referrers.

Trudeau’s confirmed the note’s authenticity on Twitter (where else, really?) Wednesday morning.