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I was trapped in a Toronto court Wednesday with an alleged murderer — some days, you just get lucky — and so missed the massive coverage of The Ascension, as I have come to call Justin Trudeau’s arrival as prime minister and, more really, the return of the federal Liberals to their rightful place in power.

So Thursday, I looked up the CBC special I’d heard about, wherein anchor Peter Mansbridge got special, exclusive, nay unprecedented, access to Trudeau on the day of his swearing-in.

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It was, ah, edifying.

Now, I grant you the young PM is a genuine charmer, and smart on his feet; that there are many engaging and accomplished people in his new cabinet, and that much of the country seems won over by Trudeau’s “sunny ways” optimism after almost a decade of relatively dour Conservative government.

I get all that. It’s pretty contagious.

But throughout the election CBC journalists, I thought, were caught in a difficult position: There they were, covering a campaign where one leader (Stephen Harper) had cut the CBC budget and seemed inclined to do more damage and two others (Trudeau and Tom Mulcair) were promising to reverse the recent cuts and pronouncing themselves in favour of stable, long-term funding for the public broadcaster.