Diplomacy has been around since the Sumerians. Perfectly elegant formulations to express condolences - "the government of Canada sends the government of Cuba its condolences at the passing of its former leader" - have existed for centuries, which could have avoided the whole issue of whether Castro was a positive or negative  for history. Clearly there are strong passions on this issue, in Canada as well as elsewhere, and it is the role of our PM to avoid fanning the flame..THAT  is what the PM should do. I don't think that the nature of the PM's condolences should become a political issue - his critics have to lighten up - but he should not have allowed his personal judgment to eclipse our national interests (one of which I hope would be to restore democracy to Cuba).