In the spring of 2013, Justin Trudeau, then newly elected as leader of the federal Liberals, gave a speech at a downtown Toronto hotel, comically heavy on bromides and platitudes.
In what would become his signature style of oratory, he made sweeping generalizations that lacked specific evidence. Canadians had a unique tendency toward hope and progress and hard work, he said, perhaps unaware that this was about as meaningful as saying we had arms and feet and eyes.
