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If they saw any, they have better eyes than I do. But for a group of men who booed and gave the thumbs-down to his bus near the entrance to the grounds, the Liberal Leader was invariably greeted by those tell-tale signs of successful celebrity spotting — spontaneous warmth and cheeks flushed with pleasure at the sight of him. Everywhere, people eagerly shook his hand or did the Quebec double-kiss. Dozens and dozens asked for selfies and got them.

Photo by Chris Wattie/Bloomberg

It was the first day Trudeau was pressing the flesh and meeting ordinary people, as opposed to the organized supporters he met on the first three days of the campaign, where pep rallies and stump speeches were the diet.

This was him at his best, and it wasn’t just his celebrityhood, either.

At a Tim Horton’s in Saint-Felix-de-Valois, about an hour from Saint-Tite, Trudeau went from table to table with the local Liberal candidate and his 10-year-old daughter, Ella-Grace.

At one table, he met Sylvie Martel, who asked for a picture and promptly burst into tears. Her husband Peter Klepieck came to Canada from Germany in 1956.

Her tears were those of the grateful Canadian – grateful that the man she loved was able to emigrate here, that they built a good life together. Perhaps he was the first prime minister she’d met, so he was the recipient of her being able to finally thank someone important. Klepieck told Trudeau that when he was working in Montreal, he often shook his dad’s hand.

Trudeau sat down and stayed with the couple for a relatively lengthy time; he was kind and his face serious as he listened to Martel and comforted her. He embraced her before he moved on. She burst into tears again.