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But we digress. Let’s look more closely at where we stand, six weeks in.

It’s quite fair to say the Trudeau government is highly aspirational – even perilously so. This is, as the slogan says, a real change. Jean Chretien took office in 1993 with an implicit promise to stay out of our faces, as Brian Mulroney had never managed to do. Harper borrowed a leaf from Chretien’s book. Hence the incrementalism to which Canadians had grown quietly, if glumly, accustomed.

[np_storybar title=”Kelly McParland: Liberals owe Canadians a referendum before ditching a successful election model after 150 years” link=”http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/kelly-mcparland-liberals-would-ditch-successful-election-model-after-150-years-without-a-referendum”]

Rona Ambrose issued a bit of advice Wednesday to which Justin Trudeau would be wise to pay attention.

Ambrose warned the new prime minister to move cautiously on the Liberals’ pledge to introduce a radical makeover to Canada’s electoral system. Before ditching a system that has served the country well for almost 150 years and replacing it with an untried new model, she argued, he has a duty to examine just how keen Canadians are on wholesale change.

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Trudeau has upended that apple cart, and in so doing is daring the risk of failure on multiple fronts. His first act was to put in place a cabinet dominated by talented, politically untested newcomers and set them free. Since then potentially transformative events have followed thick and fast. The Senate is in chaos, with century-old norms of operation suddenly up for re-examination. The new appointments process, intended to be non-partisan, could fail utterly. The first Senate appointments in the New Year will be picked over for even minute traces of pro-Liberal partisanship, which will be held up as evidence of hypocrisy. How the new Upper House will push through legislation remains anyone’s guess.