Fair enough, the self-proclaimed champion of “liberal values” should be subjected to a bit of public pillorying given that his youthful minstrel days of imitating people of color flatly contradict his more recent years of virtue-signaling.

Since Trudeau (47) was elected as prime minister in 2015, he has made a big deal about promoting human rights as well as gender and ethnic equality. On international relations, he talks about Canada having a “feminist foreign policy.”

At a superficial level, this guy is the apotheosis of lefty, liberal sensibilities. He shares a darling image among the liberal media along with France’s Emmanuel Macron. Both politicians are adept at using rhetoric apparently dedicated to social justice, ecology and internationalism. These guys are adored by the Hollywood-type ‘woke’ liberals and Me Too zealots as the embodiment of virtue, in opposition to the likes of uncouth President Donald Trump.

So, it is indeed amusing to see the squeaky-clean image of Justin Trudeau being dragged through the mud and for him to beg for forgiveness over past transgressions of his self-proclaimed values.

Nevertheless, the furore gripping Canada’s media and political class over Trudeau’s past seems to be way over the top.

Of course, with elections due next month, it is to be expected that opposition parties are exploiting bad publicity for the leader of the Liberal Party. Edging ahead in the polls is the Conservative Party, led by Andrew Scheer. He professed to be “extremely shocked and disappointed” by the racist make-up photos of Trudeau dating from nearly 18 years ago, when, as a 29-year-old, Trudeau had been working as a teacher at an elite private college before taking up politics.