There’s no question that last week was an objectively terrible one for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party that he continues to lead — for now.

Eight days ago, the Liberals suffered a humiliating defeat to the Conservatives in the riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s — a riding the Liberals held for more than 30 years and had won by margins of more than 20 percentage points (over 30 percentage points in 2019, in fact) in the previous three general elections.

As questions swirl about his future — questions that he spent the week avoiding — who would want to be linked to Trudeau at this point? Even the leader of the Ontario Liberal party was trying her best last week to distance herself from the prime minister.

So it’s easy enough to understand why Alberta’s UCP would want to tie a Trudeau anvil to the ankle of their new chief opponent. In doing so, though, they’re exposing a vulnerability of their own.

Trudeau’s unpopularity is a potent........

© Calgary Herald