Justin Trudeau: The “Woke” Canadian Prime Minister Who Fell Out of Favour with His Fellow Citizens
On 6 January 2025, a despondent-looking Justin Trudeau, 23rd Prime Minister of Canada, stood in front of the 22-room Rideau Cottage, his official residence in the grounds of Rideau Hall in Ottawa, and informed a group of assembled reporters, in both English and French, that he would be stepping down as leader of the ruling Liberal Party after “the party selects its new leader through a robust, nationwide competitive process.” Mary Simon, the Governor-General, accepted his request to prorogue Parliament until 24 March, to allow the process of electing an interim leader to get underhand. Already deeply unpopular in Canada, internal dissent within his own party culminated in the sudden resignation of Chrystia Freeland, finance minister and deputy prime minister, on 16 December 2024, forcing him to throw in the towel. The two hitherto close allies had fallen out over their respective approaches on how best to deal with Donald Trump’s threat of 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports to the US and his version of American economic nationalism. Trudeau will stay on as the lame duck leader of Canada, during the first two months of the Trump presidency.
Justin Trudeau came to power on a wave of adulation as the second-youngest Canadian Prime Minister in 2015, going on to serve a nine-year stretch at the helm of the nation. He was born into political royalty in Ottawa on Christmas Day 1971, the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, who was twice Prime Minister of Canada (1968-1979; 1980-1984), and Margaret, daughter of James Sinclair, a former fisheries minister. His parents were separated by an age gap of 29 years, with inevitable consequences given their differing outlooks on life and her eventual diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Margaret, sometimes described as a “flower child” and a “hippie without cause”, joined the Rolling Stones for a weekend in Toronto in March 1977, and made the headlines with her many hedonistic exploits before a definitive breakup in 1979 and eventual divorce in 1984. By a remarkable coincidence, Justin’s second brother Alexandre (Sacha) was also born on Christmas Day (in 1978). His youngest brother, Michel (Micha), was killed by an avalanche while skiing in November 1978, explaining Justin’s active involvement in improving safety on the slopes.
Justin Trudeau went through the French-language College Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal, McGill University (BA English literature, 1994), and the University of British Columbia (BEd, 1998). He taught French, drama, and mathematics at West Point Grey School, a prestigious private school in Vancouver, working as a snowboard instructor during the weekends. Justin impressed the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada when he delivered his eulogy at his father’s funeral in October 2000. He went on to announce his candidacy for the multi-ethnic working-class Montreal riding (electoral district) of Papineau in February 2007, secured the Liberal Party nomination in April 2007, and was elected to the House of Commons in the federal election of October 2008.
The Liberal Party was in poor shape when Trudeau was elected MP. In due course, he was elected party leader in 2013, when it held just 34 out of the 308 available seats. Trudeau reinvigorated the party with his dynamism and his progressive policies, which some would term “woke”, not to mention his “dashing” looks and his endearing informality and common touch. An article in Vogue identified him as “the new young face of Canadian politics” and his political honeymoon was marked by a love affair with the global media. His take on Canada’s destiny was influenced by his father’s earlier vision of a bilingual, yet multicultural, social welfare state. It was indeed under Pierre Trudeau that Canada became the first Western nation to officially embrace multiculturalism, way back in 1971.
The October 2015 federal election gave the once third-placed Liberal Party a decisive majority in the House of Commons, as it secured 184 seats to 99 for the Conservatives. Trudeau brought in the most diverse cabinet in Canadian history, with women holding half the cabinet posts, and appointed a Sikh as minister of defence and a Canadian Indigenous woman as attorney general. He taxed the rich and cut taxes for the middle classes. Canada legalised voluntary assisted dying in 2015 and recreational cannabis in 2016. Trudeau negotiated the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in 2016 and the Canada-US-Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA) in 2018. He introduced a national child care programme that lowered daily fees to $10. Trudeau sought reconciliation with Canada’s indigenous communities, building bridges by holding a public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. He touted climate-friendly emission reduction policies, establishing the federal carbon tax, and banned assault weapons in the wake of multiple shootings by Gabriel Wortman in Nova Scotia in April 2020.
Trudeau successfully steered Canada through the COVID-19 pandemic, during which he invoked emergency powers to combat truckers’ protests against vaccine mandates in 2022.
His fate unravelled in the aftermath of the pandemic, when continuing inflation and a shortage of affordable housing dented his popularity. Sustained high immigration concerned many Canadians, as it put a strain on housing and public services, making him backtrack with his announcement in October 2024 that Canada would reduce permanent migration by 21 per cent the following year-from 500,000 down to 395, 000 migrants. He admitted that the government “didn’t get the balance quite right” with its attempts to boost the post-pandemic economy by bringing in record numbers of temporary foreign workers and international students. Trudeau was reduced to running a minority government from 2019 onward. His administration narrowly survived a series of no-confidence votes, just as his public approval ratings plummeted, and his party lost by-elections in safe Liberal seats. Not even a cabinet reshuffle, a cut in holiday sales tax, and the offer of $250 for all working Canadians could reverse his dwindling popularity.
Trudeau’s progressive image was undermined by the emergence in 2019 of videos and images of him in blackface, performing Harry Belafonte’s ‘Day-O’ at high school, and in brownface, as Aladdin at an Arabian Nights party. He injudiciously enjoyed a luxury holiday on the Aga Khan’s private island in the Bahamas. His cabinet violated federal conflict of interest rules in its handling of a corruption inquiry involving SNC- Lavalin, Canada’s largest construction firm, which has since changed its name to AtkinsRéalis. On the home front, his 18-year marriage to Sophie Gregoire, a former model and TV sports journalist who became a yoga teacher and health and nutrition advocate, ended in divorce in 2023, following which she took up with a paediatric surgeon.
Trudeau jumped before he was pushed. His departure is part of a phenomenon that is being replicated around the world, in which forces of the right are steadily taking over. Canada may not yet become the 51st American state, but its Conservative Party leadership seems favourably inclined towards, and more in tune with, Donald Trump. The future relationship between the two North American giants, which share a 5,592-mile land border is of considerable interest to observers from afar.
Ashis Banerjee