OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new minister of labour and seniors thinks his party is fully capable of pulling off an upset in next year’s election.

The blue-grit-Paul Martin-era-political-wonk doesn’t like labels. But Steven MacKinnon is either delusional or a soothsayer.

“People want Justin Trudeau to succeed. They want Canada to succeed. And I think at the end of the day, that will be an essential part of the ingredients for victory,” said MacKinnon in an exclusive interview with the National Post last week.