Trudeau pays tearful tribute to Downie

There was an uncommon slowness in Justin Trudeau’s step Wednesday morning as he walked toward the weekly Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill, his thoughts weighed heavily with the news that Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie had died.

“I thought I was going to make it through this but I’m not,’’ the prime minister said, his voice cracking with emotion, tears streaming down his face.

“It hurts.’’

A couple of hours before, the Hip had announced that their lead singer died Tuesday night at the age of 53 after a more than year-long battle with brain cancer.

“We all knew it was coming, Trudeau said. ‘’But we hoped it wasn’t.”

Trudeau added that Canada was less of a country for having lost Downie.