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When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was recently asked how far the government would go to assert federal authority over the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, he had a wonderful opportunity to say: “Just watch me.”

That was the answer his father the former prime minister Pierre Trudeau gave in 1970 when asked how far he’d go to defend Canadian society against FLQ kidnappers in the October Crisis. Unfortunately, Sunday’s question at the press conference, following Trudeau’s meeting with Rachel Notley and John Horgan, the Alberta and British Columbia premiers respectively, was an add-on to a longer one about the state of financial negotiations with Kinder Morgan and so the PM was able to ignore it.

Memo to the press: If you want questions to have impact and be undodge-able, make them short and to the point and ask just one at a time.

In effect, however, “Just watch me” is what Trudeau said. What kind of legislation would he be bringing forward to confirm federal jurisdiction over the pipeline? The legislation is being written “as we speak” and will be introduced in due course (though why legislation is necessary if jurisdiction is as clear as everyone says it is no journalist asked). How much will the government spend to allay Kinder Morgan’s concerns about the uncertainty now beclouding the project? Those negotiations are taking place in Ottawa, Calgary, Houston and New York and when an agreement is reached the press will be the first to know. In other words, all will become clear in good time: Just watch me.