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“I mean, that a Harper Tory from Mississauga all of a sudden is going to run here in the middle of Toronto with no connections and no awareness? You know, it’s a real insult to the local Liberals in this community,” he said.

“I just find the whole thing preposterous.”

So did a lot of other Liberals. Despite campaigning hard for the nod, Adams was decisively defeated, losing by about 800 votes out of 3,000 cast, after being urged to withdraw by a heckler.

Why such a stupendous gaffe wasn’t evident to the Liberal brain trust remains a mystery. Trudeau would have been better to fire whatever adviser suggested it was a good idea and enlist Colle in his place.

Instead, Colle went to bat for Adams’s rival, Marco Mendicino, a local prosecutor and adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall law school. Adams, he declared, would succeed “over my dead body.” Mendicino has an impressive background, including prosecution of the “Toronto 18” terror group, which gives him excellent credentials to put up against the law-and-order Tories. He also has an extensive record in local community groups. Adams is a career politician who doesn’t live in the riding and only became a Liberal after being rejected by the Tories. She’s engaged to a former Harper strategist who is also on the outs with the party.

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Mendicino had the support of former Liberal leader Bob Rae. Adams was parachuted in by Trudeau, despite his pledge of open nomination contests. It didn’t need a rocket scientist to spot the better candidate, yet Trudeau not only turned up for a photo op with Adams, but praised her “commitment to public service.”