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"Not ready for prime time."

"In over their heads."

"Rookie."

They're among the most effective of political smears because they cast an often inexorable shadow of doubt over a leader. Often they're smacked on the backs of someone who is under 50. Way too often they are tagged to women, even as far more inexperienced men swan through the front doors of high office.

With the political season in full swing, we're seeing the "experience" label trading at a premium.

Last weekend, Justin Trudeau emerged on centre stage only to be greeted Monday morning by a nasty Conservative assault ad. ("Attack ad" papers over what is really a character assault that all of us as parents recognize as bullying.)

While I have many questions I'd like to put Mr. Trudeau, I found it disconcerting that the Conservatives would mock his work as a "drama teacher" and "camp counsellor" – two pursuits that are as demanding and stimulating as, say, lobbyist or political staffer, to quote from the biographies of the Harper cabinet. The Conservatives are clearly trying to present Mr. Trudeau as a flake – a risky move given the fact that most of us know a whole lot of great Canadians who once worked as camp counsellors.

Away from the résumé, The Globe editorial board took issue Friday with Mr. Trudeau's comments on the so-called root causes of the Boston Marathon bombings, publishing an editorial that ignited a raging debate among readers. Here's one reaction: "To preface, let me state that I am not a fan of Trudeau's, but that does not blind me to categorically denounce his statements as someone who 'has a lot to learn' – whatever that means."

And another: "It was this kind of crap editorial that had me cancel my subscription to your newspaper two years ago. First off, Harper was in the UK, to attend Thatcher's funeral. He went out of his way to call a scrum to bad mouth Trudeau. (This same Prime Minister, who did away with scrums, and only calls you when it is politically expedient. The fact that you haven't caught on to this yet, perplexes me). From my take on your paper, you are not non-partisan, but just another lackey for the 'Harper Government,' or the board of directors of your organization are Conservatives."

And so the ad hominems grow.

Shift to British Columbia, where provincial Liberal Leader Christy Clark is in the fight of her political life, and not looking at good odds. B.C.-based columnist Gary Mason has written a compelling weekend profile of her, including this harsh assessment from former cabinet minister Kash Heed: "There was just no leadership with her at all. She has neither the wisdom nor power. She defaulted her leadership to certain members of cabinet."

Similar criticisms can be heard of NDP Leader Adrian Dix, who is also a rookie candidate and guarded about much of his life. If you missed Justine Hunter's profile of Mr. Dix last weekend, please read it and decide for yourself.

Under a different microscope is Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak. With the provincial economy struggling and new Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne looking to appease the left and fend off the NDP, Mr. Hudak may never have a better shot at being premier. To make his case, he returned this week to our editorial board and talked about economics, the deficit, hospitals, teachers and road tolls.

Mr. Hudak has come a fair distance from his disappointing 2011 election campaign, in which he inexplicably brought up rogue issues (forcing inmates to work in chain gangs, for instance) rather than focus on the troubled Liberal record. He's now all about the economy.

In advance of our meeting, his team sent this 23-page deck on the deficit. Mr. Hudak then took the opportunity to explain his experience as a master of economics with a graduate degree from the University of Washington, where he says he specialized in micro-economic pricing models. He has modified his hair and wardrobe to look more mature. In other words, he wants to be seen as a serious economic thinker, a label we've seen Stephen Harper develop for himself to good effect.

Mr. Hudak has many bold ideas – arguably too many, as he comes across as a radical who wants to dismantle everything. Our story outlines some of his thoughts on introducing more competition for health services, merit pay for teachers to be administered by principals, and privatizing casinos. His strongest words were saved for public sector unions,which he believes have gouged taxpayers for uncompetitive and unsustainable wages and benefits. It's the one issue he can probably score the most votes with, given the volatile public mood over job security. (Why else would the temporary foreign worker issue erupt the way it did?)

Mr. Hudak's Achilles heel may be his own vivacity, and the image that he's a frat boy who wound up in politics. Even in serious conversation, he slips into light banter and jokes about his family of teachers or days as a badminton player. Some politicians struggle to project themselves as human. By contrast, the naturally friendly ones – be they a Conservative such as Mr. Hudak or a Liberal such as Mr. Trudeau – are looking for ways to project themselves as serious enough for the job.

Fair or not, the public rarely likes frivolity at the top. Any good camp counsellor knows that.

Hannah Sung and Patrick Dell take you inside a Vaughan, Ont., printing plant to see The Globe and Mail go to press. State-of-the-art technology enables the paper to combine both glossy and newsprint pages, a unique achievement in North America.

If you're reading this, you probably don't work at Toronto City Hall.

A funny bit of intelligence: Based on the 15,000 staff who have access to the internet, globeandmail.com ranks 34th among sites visited from City Hall computers. Google is No. 1 and The Toronto Star is No. 2.

H-m-m-m. Perhaps this is why the city doesn't work so well.

Dan Doctoroff, the CEO of information provider Bloomberg LP, visited The Globe recently and shared some interesting views of the Canadian economy.

Canada has been a stellar market for Bloomberg over the past few years – the best-performing market in the industrial world thanks to a strong financial industry and booming resource sectors. Until recent years, Canadian firms had also not invested heavily – at least not like other advanced service economies – in financial tools such as the vaunted Bloomberg machine seen in brokerage houses around the world.

To change that, Bloomberg has added journalists across the country (Mr. Doctoroff boasted that its largest foreign-operated bureau is in Ottawa) in the hopes of building the service's reputation and, in turn, getting more market-moving scoops.

The Canadian boom, however, is starting to slow, which may be another indicator of overall stagnation.

Banks and the so-called buy-side (pension funds and the like) are tightening up. And our public sector is not as market minded as America's. "We're seeing a caution in Canada that we didn't see a year ago," Mr. Doctoroff told me.

Enjoy the weekend,