Canada’s Boy Wonder Prime Minister Keeps Tripping Over Himself

Justin Trudeau’s top rival in Canada’s October general election is, technically, Andrew Scheer, a pro-Brexit Conservative Party leader running a campaign of suburban values and smaller government in an attempt to hold the prime minister to one term. But lately, Scheer’s had help in weakening Trudeau’s brand—from Trudeau himself.

The famously globe-trotting, feminist, supposedly woke 47-year-old prime minister has committed a string of flubs, from a vacation on a private island owned by the Aga Khan to a state visit to India where he and his wife rubbed elbows with Sikh separatists. That streak was extended on Feb. 7, when allegations surfaced that Trudeau had pressured his then-justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to help fix a legal problem for SNC Lavalin, a conglomerate with long-standing ties to his Liberal Party. This latest scandal exposes Trudeau to allegations that his fresh-faced Liberal Party is, in fact, the same old party with the same old baggage. That could be politically fatal for an agent of change.