When terrorists struck Paris Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s response was strikingly low-key.

While other world leaders vied with one another to voice their outrage, Trudeau waited a few hours before offering a somewhat anodyne expression of grief.

He also acknowledged — again strikingly for a politician — that he couldn’t say much more because he didn’t know much more.

When he arrived in Turkey for a meeting of the G20 nations later that night he didn’t immediately head for the microphones to get in on the biggest news story of the moment.

Indeed, when he did eventually surface publicly at the two-day conference on the economy, he talked — surprisingly enough — about the economy.

Tuesday, on his way to yet another conference on the economy (this time in the Philippines) he was asked whether the Paris attacks would make him rethink his ambitious plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by year’s end.

He said no.

Asked whether the attacks would make him rethink his pledge to pull Canadian jets out of the bombing war against Islamic State militants, he said no again.

None of this means that Trudeau’s Liberal government won’t up the ante militarily in the war against the Islamic State, sometimes known as ISIS.

Indeed, on Tuesday, the prime minister confirmed that he plans to send more Canadian ground troops into Iraq to help “train” Kurdish forces fighting ISIS.

This is probably a bad idea since, as Canada has found already, “trainers” can quickly become enmeshed in combat.

But a promise to keep ground forces in Iraq was part of the platform that the Liberals were elected on.

And I will give Trudeau this: He hasn’t allowed the latest crisis to derail him from this platform.

Just about everyone is giving the new prime minister advice.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has advised him to delay his refugee resettlement plans. Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose is advising him to keep Canadian fighter planes in the Middle East.

Conservative MP Jason Kenney, a former immigration minister, is advising Trudeau to behave more like Jason Kenney.

Columnists like me offer all kinds of opinions on where he should go and what he should do.

But so far at least, Trudeau has politely dismissed this unsolicited advice. He gives that funny little half-grin and says he plans to do what he was elected to do.

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In the wake of Friday’s outrage, France plans to pass a law that will allow the government to strip dual nationals convicted of terrorism of their French citizenship.

Meanwhile, Trudeau’s government is promising to repeal a near-identical Canadian law, arguing that it creates two classes of citizens.

France plans to expand its anti-terror laws. French President François Hollande is calling for a change in the country’s constitution in order to make the job of his security services easier.

By contrast, Trudeau’s Liberals have promised to scale back Canada’s anti-terror laws. Among other things, they would delete a section that allows the security services — with judicial approval — to override the constitution’s charter of rights and freedoms.

Granted it’s easier for Trudeau to take a more moderate approach to terror. It wasn’t his country that was hit Friday.

Still, it is refreshing to see that the new prime minister hasn’t been thrown off course by the terrible events in Paris.

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. As Trudeau once said, to much mockery, it has root causes which must be addressed.

Those who would combat terrorism must also make sure that their actions don’t make matters worse—a lesson that former U.S. president George W. Bush forgot when he invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.

Most of all, the struggle against terror requires keeping things in perspective. In France, car accidents still kill far more people than terrorists ever have. In Canada, as the Star has reported, 40,000 people a year are killed by poverty.

On Wednesday and Thursday in Manila, Trudeau and other Pacific Rim leaders are supposed to talk about building a better world through “inclusive economies”. Let’s hope they do. Let’s hope they don’t just focus on the war against terror.

Thomas Walkom's column appears Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

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