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To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017

There was a lot of that in the early days, along with a wealth of photo-ops for our stylish and photogenic prime minister — on a jog, photobombing a wedding ceremony, executing a yoga stand on an office desk, flashing his latest socks. It was all so Kardashian.

“Canada is back” was another slogan that didn’t so much imply, as insisted, on identifying the “real” Canada, the sensitive and caring country that brought the Liberals back to power. A fairly good swathe of the national press was very fine with this vacant boosterism, greatly abetted by the example of the “orange horror” that the poor Americans had as their leader.

“Diversity is our strength” was unquestionably the Liberal’s slogan. It was a formulation of irresistible sweetness to our prime minister, judging by the frequency with which he so longingly gave it utterance. Yet, if you take note of how its very opposite — unity is our strength — more accurately describes reality, it becomes clear that it was just another balloon let loose on the fairground.

Photo by Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Watching the balloons float lazily up into the air is tranquil, but they will come down eventually. “Diversity is our strength” gave rise to the prime minister’s careless tweet when the immigration crisis in the U.S. and elsewhere was prime news: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength. #WelcomeToCanada.”

The impulse behind that glib moment was mainly to advertise that Canada, now that the Liberals had come home again to government, was no longer the cruel country run by former prime minister Stephen Harper, or anything like the one being run by U.S. President Donald Trump. That puff of a boast sounded like an open invitation to come here and it’s hard to see how it could have been read any other way by anyone outside Canada who was seeking refuge from war or poverty. Our immigration system, in so far as it is a system, has been paying the cost of that little blurb since the day it hit Twitter.