Justin Trudeau

Justin Pierre James Trudeau  (born December 27, 1971) is a Canadian politician and former schoolteacher who was the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He was also the 14th Leader of the Liberal Party. He was elected leader on April 14, 2013 and resigned on March 9, 2025 after Mark Carney was elected. He was also the 11th Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth from 2015 to 2018. After leading his party to a majority government win in the 2015 federal election, Trudeau became the Prime Minister. Since 2021, Trudeau is the senior G7 leader. In January 2025, Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister and said he would remain in office until his replacement has been elected.

Early life

Trudeau was born on 25 December 1971 at Ottawa Civic Hospital in Ottawa. He is the eldest son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He is the second child in Canadian history to be born while one of his parents was prime minister; the first was John A. Macdonald's youngest daughter Margaret Mary Macdonald.

Trudeau was baptised with his father's niece Anne Rouleau-Danis as godmother and his mother's brother-in-law Thomas Walker as godfather, at Ottawa's Notre Dame Basilica on 16 January 1972, which marked his first public appearance. and given the names "Justin Pierre James". On 14 April 1972, Trudeau's father and mother hosted a gala at the National Arts Centre, at which visiting U.S. president Richard Nixon said, "I'd like to toast the future prime minister of Canada, to Justin Pierre Trudeau" to which Pierre Trudeau responded that should his son ever assume the role, he hoped he would have "the grace and skill of the president". Earlier that day, first lady Pat Nixon had visited him in his nursery and gifted him a stuffed toy Snoopy.

Trudeau earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature from McGill University and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia. After he graduated, Trudeau worked as a social studies, drama, math and French elementary and high school teacher. He taught at West Point Grey Academy and Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In opposition
Trudeau was elected for the first time in the 2008 federal election. He was the nominee for the Liberal Party in the electoral area of Papineau. He won more votes than the incumbent, Vivian Barbot of the Bloc Québécois.

2015 federal election

On 19 October 2015, Trudeau and the Liberals won the most seats in the federal election. This was after one of the longest campaigns in over 100 years. The Liberals won 184 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons and 39.5% of the total vote. Because of this, they formed a majority government. Their seat count went up by 150 compared to the 2011 federal election.

The results were the second-best in the history of the Liberal Party. They did very well in the eastern half of Canada. They won all of the seats in Atlantic Canada and Toronto and won 40 seats in Quebec. In Quebec, they won the most seats since Pierre Trudeau's win in the 1980 election. It was also the first time since 1980 that the Liberals won more than half the seats in Quebec. The 150 seat gain was the biggest gain for any party in an election since Canadian Confederation. It was also the first time that a party went from third place in seat count to a majority government.

Prime Minister of Canada
Trudeau and the Cabinet he chose were sworn in by the Governor General David Johnston on 4 November 2015.

In 2022, he invoked the Emergencies Act in response to the Canada convoy protest, the first time the act was brought into force since it was enacted in 1988. On 15 March 2024, Justin Trudeau was sued before the Ontario High Court for having illegally seized the bank accounts of protesters of the freedom convoys in 2022.

2019 federal election

Trudeau visited the Governor General, Julie Payette on 11 September 2019. This was to ask that Parliament be dissolved and new elections would begin.

For the first time since 1979, the party that won the largest share of the national popular vote did not win the most seats. The Liberals under Trudeau had 33.1 per cent of the popular vote, while the Conservatives under Andrew Scheer had 34.4 per cent. It was also the first time a government took power with less than 35 per cent of the national popular vote since 1867.

2021 federal election

On 20 September 2021 Trudeau and the Liberal Party won re-election as the party won 160 seats, allowing them to form a minority government.

Resignation
On 6 January 2025, Trudeau announced his resignation as Liberal Party leader after weeks of conflict within members of his conflict and party. He will remain in office until a replacement has been elected.

Personal life
Trudeau first met his wife, Sophie Grégoire, when they were both children growing up in Montreal. Grégoire was a friend of Trudeau's brother, Michel. They were married on 28 May 2005 in a Catholic wedding at the Sainte-Madeleine d'Outremont Church in Montreal. On 2 August 2023, Trudeau and Grégoire's separation was announced. They have three children together: a son, Xavier James Trudeau (born October 18, 2007), a daughter, Ella-Grace Margaret Trudeau (born 5 February 2009), and another son, Hadrien Grégoire Trudeau (born 28 February 2014).

On 12 March 2020, Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau isolated themselves, after she showed flu-like symptoms during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Minister's Office announced later that day that she had tested positive for COVID-19. In 2025, it was reported that Trudeau was dating American pop singer Katy Perry.

Notes

References

Other websites
Official website 
Liberal Party of Canada profile

Category:1971 births
Category:Living people
Category:Canadian feminists
Category:Canadian Roman Catholics
Category:Politicians from Ottawa
Category:Privy Councillors (Canada)
Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec
Category:University of British Columbia alumni
Category:21st-century Canadian people