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Justin Trudeau Throws Serious Shade At Harper in BBC Interview

'I left them in the dust,' he said of his detractors, practically a prime ministerial middle finger.

Photo via Flickr user Alex Guibord

In a rare display of cockiness, Justin Trudeau threw shade at Stephen Harper and the United States of America during an interview with the BBC.

Asked by Evan Davis, host of BBC Newsnight, if he thought he owed his election win to nepotism (aka Papa Pierre), Trudeau said "there's an awful lot of people who sort of shrugged and said, 'He has nothing but a name to go on,' and found themselves slightly bewildered as I left them in the dust." In fairness, the guy did take his party from third place to forming a majority government, so he's probably entitled to be a little smug.

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But the subtle burns didn't stop there.

When asked a grade-school-style question of who Canada likes better, the UK or the US, Trudeau claimed we're less desperate for "external recognition or external definitions."

"Obviously, you're not going to join the US and become the next half dozen states?" interjected Davis, who evidently thinks the world works like a game of Risk. (Always start by taking over Australia)

"No, but if they ever want to join us as provinces, we could probably talk about that," replied Trudeau. Har Har.

Trudeau also lumped the Harper government in with Rob Ford and Donald Trump while speaking about divisive politics.

"In pluralistic societies we have, it becomes very difficult to sustain the hatred or the fear of the shopkeeper you see down the street every day or your colleague from two cubicles over, and that dynamic is what is really a source of optimism for me."

Of course no interview with Trudeau would be complete without a nod to his "fresh-faced" good looks.

To his credit, Trudeau didn't try to deny that his hotness is A Thing, but instead said, "The fact that I'm friendly and like people shouldn't count against me when I'm hoping to represent them on the world stage."

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.