Justin Trudeau ducks questions about endorsing former Conservative MP Eve Adams

TORONTO — Justin Trudeau brushed off questions Friday about his endorsement of former Conservative MP Eve Adams, who defected to his Liberal party but failed to win a nomination for the Oct. 19 election.

The morning after the first leaders’ debate, Trudeau waded into Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s Eglinton-Lawrence riding in Toronto, where Adams had hoped to be the Liberal candidate after quitting the Conservatives last February.

Adams lost the nomination to Marco Mendicino, but Trudeau deflected when asked directly if his decision to welcome her into the Liberal fold was a mistake that would hurt Mendicino’s chances.

“I am so proud of the open nominations process we put in place right across this country,” he said. “What that meant is great candidates built extraordinary teams to gather around, to fight, and build the kind of ground game we actually need.”

He made no mention of a Liberal riding association in eastern Quebec where eight of 10 members on the executive resigned to join the NDP because they were upset with the way the local candidate was selected.

Trudeau said the Conservatives could spend as much time as they like talking about his hair and refusing to use his last name, which he called distractions, because he’ll stay focused on the needs of the middle class.

“My opponents have spent a lot of time and money focusing on my hair and whether to say my name,” said Trudeau. “I guess they think it’ll bother me. Guess what. It doesn’t.”

Trudeau also lashed out at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s economic record, saying the Conservatives have put Canada into a deficit, but he wouldn’t say how long a Liberal government would take to balance the books.

“We are committed to a balanced budget, but how long it takes to get there will depend on the size of the mess Mr. Harper has left behind,” he said. “What we won’t do is pull billions of dollars out of the economy at a time when we’re in recession because that’s poor economic policy and it’ll hurt Canadians.”

Tom Mulcair also came under fire from Trudeau, who said the NDP leader is great at asking questions but has “no answers” to offer on the big economic issues. Trudeau again took aim at the New Democrats’ promise to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour without stating it won’t apply to most minimum wager earners who are provincially regulated.

“There are a lot of words for the kind of politics Mr. Mulcair is peddling when he pushes false hope to hard working people, but none of those words is leadership,” he said. “We’ve had enough of that kind of politics after 10 years of Mr. Harper’s Tories.”

The Liberal leader declined to assess his performance in Thursday’s leaders’ debate, but opened his Friday morning rally by saying he “thoroughly enjoyed” himself.

“I always enjoy the opportunity to fight for my values, for Canada, and that’s exactly what we did last night,” he said. “I’m glad I got the chance yesterday to talk directly to Canadians, and I’m going to keep doing that every single day.”

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Keith Leslie, The Canadian Press