I remember watching the funeral of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 2000, and seeing his son Justin, aged 28, speak an eloquent eulogy. At the time we didn’t know a whole lot about him. He was teaching secondary school in Vancouver, and this eulogy seemed like our first chance to get to know this guy.

I’m sure I was not the only person who thought - this guy is good, he might have a career in politics.

I particularly like the story he tells at the 6:00 mark, of his dad taking him to the Parliamentary cafeteria, when Justin was in grade 3. Justin remembers telling a childish joke about one of the other politicians that was there, and his dad insisted that that was inappropriate and took him to meet this other politician, and explained that differing opinions don’t mean a lack of respect for the others, that mere tolerance is not enough, and we need genuine respect for each human being. (He doesn’t say who it was, but I suspect it was former Prime Minister Joe Clark.)

And he did have a good career in politics. With challenges at the end, with a lot of angry Canadians making unwarranted personal attacks, but I think history will look kindly on his career as Prime Minister. It might take a few years for some to calm down, though.

And he may have hung on too long.

But … he’s been particularly good the past few weeks, responding to US trade sabre-rattling. It seems that once you announce you aren’t running again, once you don’t need to worry about re-election, you’re empowered to say what we all need to hear.

Yesterday, Mark Carney was elected as the new Liberal leader to succeed Justin Trudeau. I wish him well. I hope he can embody the dignity, compassion and toughness that both Prime Ministers Trudeau showed Canada when we needed it.