Yesterday marked Justin Trudeau’s last day as Prime Minister of Canada.

I wasn’t always onboard with him and during the last several years, often found him frustrating and less than helpful as our country’s leader. But over the most recent two months since he announced his resignation, I’ve come to see something in him that I hadn’t particularly noticed before.

And that’s that he does well in a crisis. When he’s backed into a corner, he comes out fighting, he makes good choices and he doesn’t back down. I think that it’s during those times that he has done the best for us.

At other times, particularly in dealing with the more ordinary, mundane work of government – in other words, the times that take most of the time – he always dithered and slithered; he couldn’t seem to focus, couldn’t seem to stay on point. He often seemed to be flummoxed.

Important campaign promises disappeared, ethical questions started appearing more and more frequently, and his responses and answers to these issues were very unsatisfactory, meaningless word salads.

He wound up doing many of the same things for which he had so vociferously criticised his predecessor, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and his “sunny ways” were displaced by an extremely micromanaged and divisive governing style. Over his nine-year tenure, there was a lot for which he could – and should – be castigated.

Nevertheless, in the last two months he has done a better job for us than he had done for much of his entire tenure. He toiled away for Canada right up to the last moment, working with the premiers and international leaders, dishing it out to Trump and taking it on the chin when necessary. And yesterday he bowed out with grace and aplomb, with his poised and well-spoken sixteen-year-old daughter introducing his farewell speech and talking about how she is going to be happy to have her dad back.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and history will have its say as to how well he did, and as it is for most former leaders, I think we will be more able to see – and accept – his strengths and weaknesses.

But now it’s time to send him on his way, with our thanks and good wishes. We hope he finds success in his future endeavours.

Vive le Canada! 🇨🇦