In what may be a first for modern Canadian federal political logistics, both the Liberal and Conservative parties are set to kick off their biennial conventions, with card-carrying supporters of Team Trudeau and Team Formerly Harper Now To Be Determined expected to converge on Winnipeg and Vancouver, respectively, Thursday. For those of us who won't be physically present at either venue, the next three days will constitute a true test of both our commitment to keeping tabs on what goes down on the floor and - perhaps even more crucially - our ability to switch our attention from one event to the other without getting hopelessly muddled up over just which party is debating what, and when.

As Justin Trudeau's first full year as prime minister comes to a close, downtown roads in the nation's capital are clogged with snow and construction. It's an apt metaphor for the increasingly tough slogging Trudeau's Liberal government has experienced since the heady days last fall, when the fledgling prime minister was winning raves for appointing the first gender-equal cabinet, handing out winter parkas to newly arrived Syrian refugees, being greeted like a rock star by screaming fans and boldly declaring "Canada is back" on the international stage.