Justin Has Finally Become Mr. Trudeau

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TORONTO – They said he wasn’t ready but boy has he shown them and all Canadians that he is the real deal. Justin Trudeau has withstood a pummeling that wasted the two previous Liberal leaders so badly that each broke down publicly.

For months before the formal launch, there were ads with actors mocking him and quotes or clips taken miles out of context. By the writ-drop in early August, he’d sunk nearly from contention. Then new abuses were added, wrote the Toronto Star newspaper.

A major weapon was referring to him only as Justin, as if he was nine. Sort of first-naming and shaming. Thomas Mulcair of course was Mr. Mulcair, like your math teacher. This may have overreached. “He’s 43!” barked a high school student I know, as if nothing more needed saying. Forty-three is senior enough for anyone under that age. (The same teen said Trudeau is the only leader who you can picture playing the Hugh Grant prime minister role in Love Actually.)

At this point in the campaign, Trudeau has earned that most precious of tributes (IMHO): grudging respect from his enemies, including quarters like the National Post. Might they even pull a Globe, producing an editorial endorsing Trudeau, which would of course then be superseded by an order from upstairs to replace the name Trudeau with Harper in their text? Harper himself reverted to Mr./Monsieur Trudeau in the final debates, saving his Justins for radio ads.