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No one should underestimate Justin Trudeau's political ambitions in Western Canada.

The Liberal Leader made the top of our home page Thursday evening with comments supporting the legalization of marijuana. We ran another version of the story on the front page of our print edition Friday, explaining how it was part of Mr. Trudeau's so-called "progressive" strategy to take away support from the NDP in British Columbia.

It was the end of a weeklong stealth attack on enemy territory, cleverly presented as a Trudeau family vacation, that has both the left and right concerned. I got a glimpse of Mr. Trudeau's Western narrative last Saturday at a private fundraising event at the Banff Centre. It was his seventh trip to Alberta since last September. Seventh! And from what I've heard, he is making clear progress.

His previous visit to the Calgary Stampede, after the floods, is still talked about in Calgary. He has a growing political network in the province. Even when he is amongst the Conservative-friendly barons of the oil patch, he doesn't look unnerved. (Case in point: he laughed when he was welcomed by Lieutenant-Governor Donald Ethell as "leader of the other party," a comment that served more to diminish the Queen's representative.)

With his wife Sophie, Mr. Trudeau worked the room like he was back in Papineau, at one point dropping to one knee to kiss the hand of Jeanne Lougheed, widow of the late former premier Peter and a patron saint in much of Alberta. He clearly is targeting moderate Albertans, and should anything go wrong with Keystone XL he may have an economic card to play in the province, too.

The next day, the family piled into an RV, which Mr. Trudeau drove through the mountains to Vancouver. (Previously, he has driven his family on RV trips through Gaspé and Cape Breton.)

The Liberals believe they can win as many as four seats in Alberta – one in Edmonton, two in Calgary and possibly Lethbridge. Provincial PCs told me they think Mr. Trudeau stands to win three, a threat that will put the Harper Conservatives on the defensive, and rattle some in the Alberta caucus.

The big prize is the B.C. Lower Mainland, where Mr. Trudeau ended his family vacation. His strategists believe they can siphon enough votes from both right and left for a West Coast surge. What they don't discount is the Conservatives' pull with older, suburban and ethnic voters in B.C., a base that tends to vote and will likely be riled by the marijuana comments.

Alberta is still focused on flood recovery, as it will be for years to come.

I visited High River last Monday with one of our reporters, Carrie Tait, who with others in our bureau has worked almost non-stop since the disaster in late June. Read her weekend story on the ravaged town. We've also published a weekend editorial on High River, arguing against local demands that it be moved. You can also get a sneak peak of Chris Bolin's photos of the town and its recovery.

In Calgary, some idle chatter swirls around the popular mayor, Naheed Nenshi, and whether he would run for the Liberals. Don't count on it.

Mr. Nenshi has an ideal role already, showing the country how to run a city and also indulging in his evident pleasure in being top dog, something he would lose in Ottawa in any job other than the top one.

Mr. Nenshi, who will likely walk to victory in municipal elections this fall, is impressive to watch in the face of disaster and recovery. Last Monday, he moved city council to a temporary location in a suburban industrial park, where he chaired a 12-hour session dominated by hyper local issues such as applications for nanny and grandparent suites. Mr. Nenshi clearly would prefer to focus on greater issues, such as rebuilding the zoo or establishing a process for homeowner compensation, as he explained during the council's lunch break. (As it is Ramadan, he did not eat or even take water.)

If you missed it, here is our editorial on Calgary's resilience.

With baby George dominating headlines from Britain this week, you might have missed another remarkable event – Mark Carney's decision to put Jane Austen on banknotes. Our London correspondent Paul Waldie covered Mr. Carney's decision to put a woman on British banknotes.

After the announcement, a contact in London e-mailed the best line yet regarding Mr. Carney's first month as Governor of the Bank of England: "If he lives up to expectations, he'll be able to walk home."

Like many readers, Lucy Waverman and our video team have been spending some time in the backyard. In this video, they capture the best way to make ribs for your next barbecue using a smoker. And our videographers were behind the scenes at the latest Globe Style fashion shoot, documenting how an ambitious visual concept was brought to life using tintype – a technique that hasn't been used by a Globe photographer in a very long time.

Enjoy your weekend,