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Justin Trudeau trying to attract Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson for Liberal run: report

It's been said that politics makes strange bedfellows.

But maybe this 'connection' isn't as strange as it appears on the surface.

According to Vancouver Province reporter Michael Smyth, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has reached out to Vancouver Mayor -- and former NDP MLA -- Gregor Robertson asking him to run for the federal Liberals in 2015.

Smyth doesn't think Robertson will do it, but says that his sources at Vancouver City Hall confirm that Trudeau made the ask.

Trudeau could use Robertson’s profile and popularity to maintain the Liberals’ presence in the city.

Consider also the existing links between Robertson’s Vision Vancouver party and the federal Libs — from Vision-mayor-turned-Liberal-senator Larry Campbell, to Vision councillor Raymond Louie’s support for former Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh.

Robertson and Trudeau are on the same page on marijuana legalization and other issues.

To add fuel to fire, Robertson recently moved to a new home in what will be a new federal riding.

[ Related: Tories slam Justin Trudeau over vague policies and support for marijuana ]

Regardless of whether Robertson jumps to federal politics, it's interesting that Trudeau is wooing high profile candidates despite his promise to hold "open nominations" in every riding across the country.

In the Chretien/Martin era, the Liberals consistently parachuted-in big name candidates and in many cases ignored the will of grass root members. Going after someone like Robertson in Vancouver certainly evokes memories of those days.

[ Related: Is new star Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland the new Ignatieff? ]

There's also questions about what's happening in the riding of Toronto-centre — Bob Rae's old riding.

Some are openly suggesting that Trudeau's team is helping star-candidate Chrystia Freeland win the nomination.

"The behind-the-scenes machinations in Toronto Centre suggest, among other things, that the entire affair has been rigged to favour one candidate over the others," Liberal insider and Sun News personality Warren Kinsella recently wrote.

"The Toronto Centre contest, which really isn’t one, recalls the bad old days of the once-great Grits, when earnest and hard-working locals were pushed aside — and out-of-touch aristocrats made their entrance, trumpets heralding their arrival, and the leader’s minions throwing rose petals ahead of them.

"Trudeau claims, with a straight face, that he is not attempting to engineer the nomination for Freeland — who does not even live in Canada, let alone Toronto Centre. But there is not a Liberal alive who believes him."

Wooing is one thing. But if Team Trudeau is really getting involved — as Kinsella seems to believe — then it looks like nothing has changed at Liberal HQ.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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