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Justin Trudeau’s first year as Liberal leader a good one

Monday marks Justin Trudeau's first anniversary as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

While there's been some bumps along the way, I think even his critics have to admit that, by almost any measure, it's been a remarkable year.

Trudeau has been able to create a persona that's almost Obama-like.

Liberal strategists have painted him as a charismatic, engaging and positive figure who is markedly different from other politicians in Canada.

So far the strategy is paying dividends.

Shortly after the leadership convention in Ottawa, Trudeau helped buoy his party to a victory over the Conservatives in a byelection in Labrador. As explained by Sun News' David Akin, that was the first byelection, out of 20 byelections since 2006, where the Tories lost a seat that they had previously held.

There were other byelection victories in Toronto Centre and Bourassa and impressive showings in Tory strongholds like Calgary-Centre, Provencher and Brandon-Souris.

Moreover, membership sales and fund-raising numbers have grown substantially under Trudeau's stewardship. In calendar year 2012, the Tories raised $17,258,098 from 87,306 contributors, compared to the Liberals who raised just $8,166,658 from 44.466 individuals. In 2013, the Liberals raised approximately $11.1 million.

And then then there's the opinion polls. Since Trudeau won the leadership, the Liberals have ranked higher than the other two major parties. One of the latest polls, from Forum Research, has the Liberals 10 points ahead of the Conservatives.

It this is a Trudeau honeymoon, then it's a long honeymoon that shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

[ Related: Harper first choice for Canadians as PM, but Tories drop 10 points behind Liberals in new poll ]

Certainly, not everything is rosy in Liberal-land.

Unfortunately for them, Trudeau has shown an affinity of putting his foot in his mouth.

Earlier this month, he dropped a f-bomb while speaking at a charity boxing match.

In February, in an interview with Radio Canada after violent clashes that killed dozens in Ukraine — Trudeau said this: "It is very worrisome, particularly since Russia lost in [Olympic] hockey, they will be in a bad mood and we fear Russian involvement in the Ukraine."

Late last year, at a Liberal Party ladies night, he joked about admiring China because "their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime."

Those comments — along with a shortage of real policy idea — have made Trudeau susceptible to Tory attack ads suggesting that he's "in over his head."

[ Related: Justin Trudeau shocks with "F-bomb" at charity boxing event ]

In a recent article for iPolitics, Ekos Research pollster Frank Graves says the party is reinvigorated but that they can't afford to get overconfident.

"The Liberals should take warning, however: Despite the party’s recent good fortune, Trudeau’s disapproval rating has been rising at an alarming pace," Graves wrote.

"As more Canadians become familiar with him, their attitude toward Trudeau seems to lean toward disapproval."

This is how Liberal insider and Sun News analyst Warren Kinsella put it on his website:

"People are sick to death of the Conservatives, and are considering hiring someone else. They’re increasingly unsure if Justin is the one they want to pick, however.

As a good Liberal friend said to me this morning: “He may be the guy they want to date, but he isn’t the guy they want to marry.”

Regardless, it wasn't too long ago that the media fraternity was writing off the Liberals as yesterday's party. There were many who even suggested that a merger of the left-of-centre parties was inevitable.

But for now at least, the Liberals are in the conversation with regard to forming the next government of Canada.

For that Trudeau deserves a lot of the credit.

(Photo courtesy of Liberal Party of Canada Facebook page)

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