Celebrity treatment during N.L. visit 'big win' for Justin Trudeau, says professor

Shontal Patey-Callahan was eating lunch at the mess hall with the rest of her team at the Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

She turned to find herself face to face with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"He's just so cute, he might not be your type but he's my type," gushed the 13-year-old baseball player.

"I'm blessed, man. We're going to win."

The teenage athlete was among the hundreds who fawned over Trudeau, who took scores of selfies during his whirlwind trip through Corner Brook, St. John's and Conception Bay South.

This trip focused more on style than substance and that's exactly the way he wanted it, says Alex Marland, a political science professor at Memorial University, and author of a book Brand Command that looks at message control in government.

"I think it worked out perfectly for him," said Marland of the trip, and the generally positive media coverage that came out of it.

"He got fantastic news coverage. The coverage that I saw showed him holding babies, being treated as a celebrity and being celebrated. It was nothing but positive, from what I can tell."

Can't last forever

Trudeau's Liberals swept Newfoundland and Labrador with 65 per cent of the vote in last fall's election, taking all seven seats.

The federal Liberals have been able to avoid the unpopular tax hikes and budget cuts its provincial counterparts have made.

Marland says the short campaign-style swing through the province reflects the new reality that politicans are in perpetual campaign mode; after winning one election they're already focused on the next.

He said Trudeau's celebrity profile has been central to the success of the Liberal party, and he's effective at stoking it with trips like the one this week.

Many people don't follow issues closely, said Marland, and Trudeau's decision to no longer guarantee Atlantic Canada a Supreme Court appointment gets overshadowed by the good feelings people have.

Marland warns it won't last forever.

"The longer you're in office and the longer that you're prime minister, the harder it becomes to have that appeal," he said.

"In the end you're going to make difficult decisions and you're going to be upsetting some people. The question for me is, at what point are we going to see demonstrators?"