[Read: Brownface, Blackface and About-Face. Is Trudeau Who He Says He Is?]

[Read: Justin Trudeau Says He Is ‘Deeply Sorry’ After Brownface Photo Surfaces]

The Opinion side of The Times, which is separate from News where I work, also asked writer Melissa J. Gismondi for her take on events. The department also published a letter from a reader who doesn’t believe Mr. Trudeau did anything wrong.

The political fallout has yet to settle, and the story may have developed further in the time between my writing and your reading of this week’s newsletter.

But on several levels, the latest mess for Mr. Trudeau add to the parallels between this vote and his father’s second election campaign in 1972.

To look into this, I spoke with Robert Bothwell, a historian at the University of Toronto who will be speaking at a conference in October to mark the centennial of Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s birth.