Grab your hankies, Canadians

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau make their way to a dinner hosted for United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in February.

Liberal command-andcontrol in Ottawa can breathe easy again. If the recent unfortunate elbow incident brought a slight tarnish to the lustre of the Trudeau image, a bit of polish and a few photo ops have speedily put things right.

Quick as a wink, there was the handsomest leader of the Western world, gazing into his wife’s eyes as they landed in Tokyo for a Group of Seven summit; Trudeau declaring he would skip one of the two days of the summit to celebrate his 11th wedding anniversary; Trudeau and Sophie meeting the Japanese emperor and empress …

Elbowgate could never survive the onslaught. Never mind that the Trudeaus’ actual anniversary isn’t until Saturday, when he’ll be back in Canada. His determination to celebrate it early, in front of the cameras that he courts so assiduously, is a demonstration of his determination to find a “work-life balance.” The prime minister, advised the CBC, is “willing to take some punches” to stand by his devotion to family.

Pause here to dab at teardrops. Canadians may soon have to carry hankies to deal with chance encounters of the Prime Minister being just too adorable for words.

Trudeau could have waited until Saturday to celebrate his anniversary, but that would have disrupted the party’s policy convention in Winnipeg, where Trudeau’s team is seeking to seize much broader control of the party. Better to skip time with the leaders of the free world than disappoint Liberals in need of selfies.

As Postmedia’s Lee Berthiaume has reported, Trudeau’s people are engaged in a very Stephen Harper-like effort to put more control in the hands of the PM, in the face of resistance from members alarmed at so much power being concentrated in a small band around Tru- deau. According to the PM, it’s all part of a “courageous” effort to modernize and open up the party; according to dissenters, it’s a “power grab” that runs directly counter to promises of greater transparency and consensus that was a key theme of the Liberal election platform.

“I think it’s revealing to the public, in a meaningful way, if they are ram-

It shouldn’t come as too great a shock, though, given the yawning gap t h a t ’s opened between the actual behaviour of the Trudeau government in its first seven months, and the pledges it made beforehand. The prime minister’s temper tantrum was sparked by his anger at opposition members seeking to delay, even slightly, his desire for a quick vote on a Liberal motion. The pledges during the election campaign to increase those powers.

The elbow incident followed on the heels of the disastrous unveiling of the government’s election-reform plans, which featured a committee stacked with Liberals and an apparent determination to force through unprecedented changes before the next election. House of Commons leader Dominic LeBlanc, one of the prime minister’s main allies, insisted the party’s 39 per cent share of the vote in October gave it a mandate to overturn the existing system at its pleasure. Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef rejected any thought of a referendum to test the actual democratic will of all Canadians.

For such a young government, the Liberals appear to be quickly growing both frustrated and increasingly high-handed. A lengthening list of promises has been shelved or reversed, on deficits, pensions, access to information and a host of other issues. The devotion to an open door for Syrian refugees, which accorded Trudeau an opportunity for a photo op at Pearson airport to welcome the first arrivals, has given way to complaints of delays and backlogs as the government’s interest appears to wane.

The p a r t y ’s rhetoric on human rights has run aground on its determination to complete a $15-billion weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. Even as Trudeau was in Japan, where he carefully avoided taking a stand on China’s growing belligerency in the South China Sea, Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion was making a round of visits in the Middle East, where he held meetings with a series of autocrats and stood by the Saudi deal.

None of this has made an impact on the broad Canadian consciousness yet. The Liberals continue to ride high. Every blip on the popularity radar can be quickly offset with a photo op and some Trudeau family values. Trudeau will get what he wants from the weekend convention and the future ones. Just like Harper used to do. Whatever the Liberal rhetoric, that’s what being in power is all about.