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If ever there were a phrase for which the advice given to countless writers, to “kill your darlings,” might have been devised, this was it. There is always something classless and off-key, for starters, in taking a shot at your defeated opponent overseas — outside the family, as it were.

Moreover, this seemingly offhand bit of wordplay bespeaks a number of other attitudes and assumptions, none of them attractive. Consider, at its heart, the contrast he wants his listeners to take away, between “resources” and “resourcefulness.”

The canard is so common, the underlying assumption so entrenched among those of a certain set, that many readers may have missed it. But of course: resources are just something we pull out of the dirt. That’s easy. Any idiot could do that. If that was the view the rest of the world had of us — simple resource extractors — well, Trudeau would soon put that right. He would remake Canada’s economic brand in his own image: stylish, hip, clev— er, well, resourceful, at any rate.

Be clear on this. He chose these words for a reason. Indeed, he repeated the point, just to be sure. While acknowledging that Canada’s natural resources were “substantial,” he went on: “But Canadians also know that growth and prosperity is not just a matter of what lies under our feet, but what lies between our ears.” Because apparently getting at the one does not require the other.

The contrast is not only false, but insulting. Extracting bitumen from the oilsands, in particular, has required the most extraordinary feats of scientific ingenuity, of which humankind was not capable until comparatively recently. It is the furthest thing from easy.