Mr Trudeau, who has been at the centre of a race row since three old photos of the Liberal Leader in blackface emerged, said the opposition Conservatives had run “one of the dirtiest, nastiest campaigns based on disinformation that we’ve ever seen in this country”. The latest opinion polls put the Conservatives, led by Andrew Scheer at 32.5 percent, Mr Trudeau’s Liberals at 31.9 percent and Jagmeet Singh’s left-leaning New Democrats (NDP) at 18.8 percent as Canadians prepare to vote on Monday.
But Mr Trudeau’s allegations of dirty tricks have been dismissed by British MEP Daniel Hannan who has been in Canada ahead of polling day.
Writing on the ConservativeHome website, Mr Hannan said: “Canadians are so bloody polite, even their general elections are decorous.
“I have spent the past week in the Big Dominion, whose fiercely contested campaign culminates on Monday.”
He continued: “Not that you’d think it from the local hustings meetings: ‘Sorry to interrupt, please finish your point’, ‘I apologise if I misunderstood you’, etc etc.
“Candidates rarely talk across each other, impute base motives or misrepresent their opponents.
“When I offered a very mild joke about Justin Trudeau’s blackface fetish to a Conservative MP, he goggled at me in horror: ‘I’m not going to go negative!’”
READ MORE: Trudeau branded a ‘fraud’ during heated election tv debate
Mr Hannan said few in Canada believe Mr Trudeau is a racist despite his ill-judged choice of fancy dress costume.
He said: “In a country that dislikes negative campaigning, the negatives are telling.
“The case against Trudeau is not that he is a racist, but that he’s a bit of a berk.
“Almost no one watching his blackface antics thinks he secretly despises black people.
“It is just that, as with his dressing up games in India, he looks dim and vapid.”
In a second apology for the two images, he said he did not remember the third incident but understood it was “unacceptable” and that he had enjoyed “layers of privilege” in his life.
Mr Trudeau, who took office in 2015, has now picked up an endorsement from former US President Barack Obama who described the Canadian prime minister as a hard-working, effective leader who wanted to tackle big issues such as climate change.
Mr Obama said: “The world needs his progressive leadership now and I hope our neighbours to the north support him for another term.”