Who's the guy who babysat Pierre Trudeau's children, Justin included? That would be Dominic LeBlanc.

Who has gone from house sitter then to House Leader now? That would be the Prime Minister's best bud among all the elected Liberals, Dominic LeBlanc.

Who has been handed the brutal task of being Mr. Trudeau's point man for the Senate, the chamber of disrepute whose occupants are seen as a less evolved species? Over to you, Dominic.

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Who is charged with bringing a sense of democratic dignity and respect to a House of Commons run recently by a prime minister whose idea of a class act was Vlad the Impaler? That would be Dom, as friends call him, as well.

If you get the impression that the 47-year-old Acadian is a major power in this government, you may be right. The big, cigar-smoking Liberal with the fittingly rouge complexion will be Mr. Trudeau's fixer.

His political background is corps d'elite from the get-go. His late father, Roméo, was a close friend of Pierre Trudeau and a member of his cabinet, as well as governor-general when Jean Chrétien was in power. Dominic LeBlanc cared for Pierre Trudeau's family at 24 Sussex Dr., did his high school homework in Parliament's Centre Block, lived at Rideau Hall, attended Harvard University and was an honorary pallbearer at the Trudeau funeral. He chauffeured Mr. Chrétien in an election campaign, worked in Mr. Chrétien's office and has served as a Liberal MP representing New Brunswick for the past 15 years.

While raised in the temples, he exhibits no air of pomp. When I first met him 15 years ago, within minutes, he was cranking out quips, old lines such as, "Politics is the most fun you can have with your clothes on." He's such a political junkie that he drove all the way to Arkansas to get a glimpse of Bill Clinton when he won the presidency in 1992.

Having spent many an hour imagining such a day, Dominic LeBlanc and Justin Trudeau, chums who can spot phonies a mile away, are in dream-come-true land. The other close friend of Mr. Trudeau is his principal secretary Gerry Butts, also an East Coaster who hung out with the future PM at McGill University.

The advantage of having such close allies at your side is that they can speak blunt truths. The disadvantage is that it can create a perception that a tight little buddies' club is running the show.

Having witnessed the downsides of politics-as-usual for much of their lives, the question is whether these men will change the culture or fall victim to it. Given their pedigree and promises, they should be held to a high standard. They've hardly been given a tough act to follow. Stephen Harper surrounded himself with the likes of Peter Van Loan, Pierre Poilievre, Paul Calandra and Jenni Byrne.

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This week, we see the new government in action in Question Period for the first time. If cabinet ministers start dodging questions or throwing insults across the aisle, we'll know that not much has changed. If the new Liberal leadership starts gagging people in the party who don't march in lockstep, it will show they haven't learned.

Mr. LeBlanc has to somehow avoid being beaten up by the Senate file. In several ways, the Liberals are trying to give the Red Chamber more independence. It's not a big fix, but it's better than having it run directly out of the Prime Minister's Office, which is counter to the Constitution. But the changes are being met with strong opposition from western premiers and others.

Mr. LeBlanc needs to listen to the West on the Senate and other files. The party can ill afford not to. But as a man of the Maritimes, which the Liberals swept in the past election, his first allegiance is there. The one election he lost, in 1997, came largely as a result of Liberal cuts to the employment insurance program. He remembers it well.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this column incorrectly identified Gerry Butts as chief of staff. This version has been corrected.