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His combative instincts kick in, when he goes off script — the first clue generally being use of the word “frankly.”

“Why would Canadians, contrary to our own values, embrace a practice that … frankly is rooted in a culture that is anti-women?” he said Tuesday.

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This is the kind of statement that validates Mr. Trudeau’s claims that Mr. Harper is indulging in the “politics of division and fear against a particular minority.”

The Liberal leader said Wednesday Mr. Harper is guilty of “conduct unbecoming” a prime minister. In the House, he asked the Prime Minister to explain to Canada’s half a million Muslim women why he said their chosen faith is anti-women.

Mr. Harper dismissed the question, saying: “I said no such thing” — which is not strictly, or even loosely, true, based on the official record.

The Liberal leader tried to paint Mr. Harper as a sectarian chauvinist, intent on ensuring the majority dictates the religious rights of minorities, as he did as the Reform Party’s policy chief 25 years ago when he voted to prevent Sikh RCMP officers from wearing turbans.

Mr. Harper defended his government by quoting moderate Muslim organizations that support the government’s position on the niqab. “It is up to the leader of the Liberal Party to explain why he is so far outside that mainframe,” he said.

It was a strong showing from Mr. Trudeau, who at last seems to have found a cause in which he believes.

There’s a thin line between motivating and agitating supporters

Yet, he too used language that threatens to inflame the situation. He offered proof of the parliamentary equivalent of Godwin’s Law — the Internet rule that asserts the longer an online discussion goes on, the more likely someone will invoke the Nazis in a glib comparison. Mr. Trudeau compared the Conservative rhetoric on Muslims to that which led to Canada’s immigration policy for Holocaust-era Jews.