Justin Trudeau, and therefore the Liberals, gained great international and domestic praise and notoriety during their first months in office for the dramatic and youthful flare (in growing contrast to other quarters) but this created expectations that could not be realized.  Unfortunately, Trudeau appeared to relish his notoriety (and appear too needy) a bit too much too often and this coupled with the natural difficulties of governing a complex country like Canada and the difficulties of our times generally make Trudeau and the Liberals vulnerable to a negative recoil from earlier, perhaps excessive, expectations and premature praise.

As this reaction began, Trudeau made the tactical mistake of going into non-stop campaign mode when the appearance of working hard in Ottawa might have served him and his Party better.

Trudeau & the Liberals are not in serious trouble politically or in terms of social policy but they need to rethink their public presentation to remain really effective.