Justin Trudeau’s pot gambit is a calculated and rather clever move. The Liberal leader’s revelation that he smoked dope as a sitting MP earned him an expected scolding from the governing Conservatives. But that, surely, was Trudeau’s aim.

The unexpected decision to highlight marijuana laws is also eerily similar to a strategy that allowed Trudeau’s father, Pierre, to be Canada’s prime minister for 15 years.

In his attempt to outpace Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau has little manoeuvring room. On the economy, the Liberal leader’s position differs little from that of Harper. Like the prime minister, Trudeau sees pipelines, resource development and free trade as the keys to Canada’s future.

He supports the Alberta tar sands and preaches fiscal frugality — again, like Harper.

On the other side, he is equally hemmed in by Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats. Voters who simply hate Harper now have two plausible choices.

Indeed, given that the NDP — as official opposition — already holds more seats than the Liberals, it makes some sense for anti-Harper voters to opt for Mulcair over Trudeau.

What’s a Liberal leader to do?

Pierre Trudeau’s answer 45 years ago was to focus on a vague but potent notion of social change. As justice minister, he had introduced a bill to legalize all forms of sexual activity between consenting adults, noting famously that “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” In 1968, he became prime minister by promising what he called the “just society.”

At one level, this was an empty slogan. But at another, it appealed to voters who, in an inchoate way, wanted something different.

By taking on marijuana laws, the younger Trudeau is trying to signal that he, too, is on the cutting edge. “I think that adults should be free to choose their behaviours in this particular case,” he told the Huffington Post this week.

It’s not that most Canadians necessarily want to smoke up. But like the homosexuality statutes that Pierre Trudeau overturned, anti-marijuana laws strike many as simply out of date.

In that sense, Justin Trudeau’s promise to legalize dope is a symbol that could resonate not just with the young (who tend not to vote) but across all age groups.

Incidentally, it’s probably worth remembering that the Woodstock generation, which feels it invented marijuana, is now in its 60s. And these people do vote.

As always with politicians, there is an element of opportunism in Trudeau’s position. Until last month, he was on record as opposing the legalization of cannabis. In 2009, he and other Liberal MPs — fearful of being labelled soft on crime — supported a government bill to impose mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of growing small amounts of marijuana (the Liberals changed their minds two years later).

But Trudeau says his thinking has evolved and perhaps it has. Certainly, the world has evolved. Two American states have voted to legalize pot. As Trudeau has noted, this makes it easier for Canada to relax its laws.

Beyond that, however, he clearly believes he has a winning issue. When the Huffington Post queried all party leaders about their personal experiences with dope, Trudeau — unlike Harper and Mulcair — didn’t answer elliptically through a spokesperson.

Instead, he offered a one-on-one interview in which he could tell all — including the anecdote of his smoking up at a party a mere three years ago when he was a sitting MP.

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Predictably, the Conservatives are now attacking Trudeau as a lawmaker who breaks laws. We shall see if that works. Clearly, the Liberal leader thinks it won’t. He’s betting that a good chunk of Canadians will view Harper and his government as out-of-date fogeys who are propping up a ban that no longer makes sense. His reefer madness may not be all that mad.

Thomas Walkom’s column appears Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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