page_title: Justin Trudeau
section_title: Opposition, 2008–2015
hierarchical_section_title: Justin Trudeau / Opposition, 2008–2015
caption_attribution_description: English: Justin Trudeau promotional photo taken by Jean-Marc Carisse
context_page_description: Justin Pierre James Trudeau PC MP is a Canadian politician who has served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada since 2015 and has been the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013. Trudeau is the second-youngest Canadian prime minister after Joe Clark; he is also the first to be related to a previous holder of the post, as the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau.
  Born in Ottawa, Trudeau attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, graduated from McGill University in 1994, and then the University of British Columbia in 1998. He has a bachelor of arts degree in literature and a bachelor of education degree. After graduating, he worked as a teacher in Vancouver, British Columbia. He started studying engineering at Montreal's École Polytechnique in 2002 but dropped out in 2003. Beginning in 2004, he took one year of a master's program in environmental geography at McGill University but, again, left without graduating in 2005. He has also held jobs including camp counselor, nightclub bouncer, and snowboard instructor.
  In the 2008 federal election, he was elected to represent the riding of Papineau in the House of Commons.
context_section_description: Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election for October 14, 2008, by which time Trudeau had been campaigning for a year in Papineau. On election day, Trudeau narrowly defeated Bloc Québécois incumbent Vivian Barbot. Following his election win, Edward Greenspon, editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, noted that Trudeau would "be viewed as few other rookie MPs are—as a potential future Prime Minister—and scrutinized through that lens".
  The Conservative Party won a minority government in the 2008 election, and Trudeau entered parliament as a member of the Official Opposition. Trudeau was the first member of the 40th Parliament of Canada to introduce a private member's motion, in which he called for a "national voluntary service policy for young people". The proposal won support from parliamentarians across party lines. He later co-chaired the Liberal Party's April 2009 national convention in Vancouver, and in October of the same year he was appointed as the party's critic for multiculturalism and youth.
  In September 2010, he was reassigned as critic for youth, citizenship, and immigration. During that time, he criticized the government's legislation targeting human smuggling, which he argued would penalize the victims of smuggling.
  Trudeau sparked controversy when it was revealed that he earned $1.3 million in public speaking fees from charities and school boards across Canada, $277,000 of which Trudeau received after becoming an MP.
  He encouraged an increase of Canada's relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and sought more accessible immigration procedures for Haitians moving to Canada in the time of crisis. His own riding includes a significant Haitian community.
  Trudeau was re-elected in Papineau in the 2011 federal election, as the Liberal Party fell to third-party standing in the House of Commons with only thirty-four seats. Ignatieff resigned as party leader immediately after the election, and rumours again circulated that Trudeau could run to become his successor. On this occasion, Trudeau said, "I don't feel I should be closing off any options ... because of the history packaged into my name, a lot of people are turning to me in a way that ... to be blunt, concerns me." Weeks after the election, Toronto MP Bob Rae was selected to serve as the interim leader until the party's leadership convention, which was later decided to be held in April 2013. Rae appointed Trudeau as the party's critic for Post Secondary Education, Youth and Amateur Sport. After his re-election, he travelled the country hosting fundraisers for charities and the Liberal Party.
  Trudeau wanted to take part in a charity boxing match on behalf of the cancer research fundraising event Fight for the Cure, but was having difficulty finding a Conservative opponent until Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau agreed when asked on Trudeau's behalf by their mutual hairdresser Stefania Capovilla. The fight on March 31, 2012, in Ottawa at the Hampton Inn was broadcast live on Sun News with commentary by Ezra Levant and Brian Lilley and Trudeau won in the third round, the result considered an upset.
caption: 2008 Trudeau promotional portrait by Jean-Marc Carisse
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "90", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "719", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "990"}