Justin Pierre James Trudeau, MP (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician. He has represented the
MontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
electoral division of
PapineauPapineau is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1948 to 1988 and since 2004. Its population in 2006 was 101,019....
in the
Canadian House of CommonsThe House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
since 2008 as a member of the
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
and currently serves as the party's critic for youth, post-secondary education, and amateur sport.
Trudeau is the eldest son of the late former
Canadian prime ministerThe Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Pierre TrudeauJoseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
and
Margaret Sinclair Trudeau KemperMargaret Joan Sinclair Trudeau Kemper is the former wife of the late Pierre Trudeau, the 15th Prime Minister of Canada.-Early years and marriage:...
. His maternal grandfather,
James SinclairJames Sinclair, PC was a Canadian politician and businessman.-Life and career:Sinclair was born in Banff, Scotland, the son of Betsy and James George Sinclair. He moved to Vancouver with his family in 1911...
, was also a federal cabinet minister.
Early life and personal life
Trudeau was born on December 25, 1971, in
OttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
,
OntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. He was only the second child in Canadian history to be born when one of his parents was prime minister; the first was
John A. MacdonaldSir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
's youngest daughter Margaret Mary Macdonald, and Trudeau's younger brothers
Alexandre (Sacha)Alexandre "Sacha" Trudeau is a Canadian filmmaker and journalist, and second son of Canada's former Prime Minister, the late Pierre Trudeau, and Margaret Trudeau.-Early life and education:...
(born December 25, 1973) and
MichelMichel Trudeau was the youngest son of the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau.Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he studied at Dalhousie University to become a microbiologist....
(1975–98) were the third and fourth, respectively. Pierre and Margaret Trudeau separated in 1977, when Justin was six years old, and Pierre retired as prime minister in 1984. Of his mother and father's marriage, Trudeau said in 2009, "They loved each other incredibly, passionately, completely. But there was 30 years between them and my mom never was an equal partner in what encompassed my father's life, his duty, his country."
Pierre Trudeau raised his children in relative privacy in Montreal. In 2008, Justin said that of all his early family outings he enjoyed camping with his father the most, because "that was where our father got to be just our father—a dad in the woods." Justin actively supported the Liberal Party from a young age, offering his personal support to embattled party leader
John TurnerJohn Napier Wyndham Turner, PC, CC, QC is an English Canadian lawyer and retired politician, who served as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada from June 30 to September 17, 1984....
in the
1988 federal electionThe Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ....
. Two years later, he defended
Canadian federalismCanada is a federation with two distinct jurisdictions of political authority: the country-wide federal government and the ten regionally-based provincial governments. It also has three territorial governments in the far north, though these are subject to the federal government...
at a student event at the
Collège Jean-de-BrébeufCollège Jean-de-Brébeuf is a private French-language educational institution offering secondary school and CEGEP college-level instruction in Montreal, Quebec. It is a co-ed establishment for students in their final year of secondary school and in college. It is boys-only in the first four years...
.
Trudeau emerged as a prominent figure in his own right in October 2000, after delivering a memorable eulogy at his father's state funeral. The
Canadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
(CBC) received numerous calls to rebroadcast the speech after its initial transmission, and leading Quebec politician
Claude RyanClaude Ryan, was a Canadian politician and leader of the Parti libéral du Québec from 1978 to 1982. He was also the National Assembly of Quebec member for Argenteuil from 1979 to 1994.-Early life and career:...
described it as "perhaps [...] the first manifestation of a dynasty." A book issued by the CBC in 2003 included the speech in its list of significant Canadian events from the past fifty years.
Trudeau has a
Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in literature from
McGill UniversityMohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
and a
Bachelor of EducationA Bachelor of Education is an undergraduate academic degree which qualifies the graduate as a teacher in schools.-North America:...
degree from the
University of British ColumbiaThe University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
. After graduation, he worked as a social studies and French teacher in
Sir Winston Churchill Secondary SchoolSir Winston Churchill Secondary School is named after the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill.Churchill Secondary is one of two International Baccalaureate schools and one of three French Immersion secondary schools in Vancouver.Churchill is fed by the surrounding...
in
VancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. From 2002 to 2004, he studied engineering at the
Université de MontréalThe Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
. He also started a
Master of ArtsA Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree in Environmental Geography at
McGill UniversityMohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
before suspending his program to seek public office.
On May 28, 2005, Trudeau married
Sophie GrégoireSophie Grégoire , graduated in communication, the wife of Justin Trudeau, son of late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Grégoire and Trudeau's wedding ceremony took place in May 2005 in Montreal, Quebec....
, a former model and Quebec television host. They have two children.
Trudeau is one of several children of former Prime Ministers who have become Canadian media personalities. The others are
Ben MulroneyBenedict Martin Paul "Ben" Mulroney is a Canadian television host, and is the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.-Early life:...
,
Catherine ClarkCatherine Jane Clark is a Canadian television broadcaster, and the daughter of former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark and Maureen McTeer.-Life and career:Clark was born in Ottawa, Ontario...
, and Justin's younger brother, Alexandre. Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney were longtime foes, but this rivalry did not carry over to their sons; Ben Mulroney was a guest at Justin Trudeau's wedding.
Advocacy
Trudeau has used his public status to promote various causes. He and his family started the Kokanee Glacier Alpine Campaign for winter sports safety in 2000, two years after his brother
Michel TrudeauMichel Trudeau was the youngest son of the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau.Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he studied at Dalhousie University to become a microbiologist....
died in an avalanche during a ski trip. In 2002, Trudeau criticized the British Columbia government's decision to stop its funding for a public avalanche warning system.
Trudeau chaired the
Katimavik-Overview:Each Katimavik program consists of groups of 11 youths aged 17 to 21 who are drawn from all across Canada. They travel together to one or two different places in Canada for a period of six months. During the 2007-2008 program year there were 99 such groups spread across Canada...
youth program, a project started by longtime family friend
Jacques HébertJacques Hébert, OC was a Canadian author, journalist, publisher, Senator, and world traveler having visited more than 130 countries.-History:...
, from 2002 to 2006. In 2002–03, he was a panelist on
CBC RadioCBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
's
Canada ReadsCanada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC.-Overview:During Canada Reads, five personalities champion five different books, each champion extolling the merits of one of the titles. The debate is broadcast over a series...
series, where he championed
The Colony of Unrequited DreamsThe Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a novel by Wayne Johnston, published on September 30, 1998 by Knopf Canada. Johnston's breakthrough work, the novel was a Canadian bestseller, and was shortlisted for the 1998 Giller Prize and the 1998 Governor General's Award for English fiction.In 2003, Justin...
by
Wayne JohnstonWayne Johnston is a Canadian novelist. His fiction deals primarily with the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, often in a historical setting.-Biography:...
. Trudeau and his brother Alexandre inaugurated the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the
University of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
in April 2004; the centre later became a part of the
Munk School of Global AffairsThe Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre on global issues that integrates research with teaching and public education...
. In 2006, he hosted the Giller Prize for literature.
In 2005, Trudeau fought against a proposed $100 million
zincZinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
mine that he argued would poison the Nahanni River, a United Nations World Heritage Site located in the
Northwest TerritoriesThe Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
. He was quoted as saying, "The river is an absolutely magnificent, magical place. I'm not saying mining is wrong [...] but that is not the place for it. It's just the wrong thing to be doing."
On 17 September 2006, Trudeau was the master of ceremonies at a Toronto rally organized by
Roméo DallaireLieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, is a Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general...
that called for Canadian participation in resolving the Darfur crisis.
Actor
CBC TelevisionCBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
announced in July 2006 that Justin Trudeau would appear in the two-part miniseries,
The Great War, portraying
Talbot Mercer PapineauTalbot Mercer Papineau, MC was a lawyer and soldier from Quebec, Canada.Born in Montebello, Quebec, he was the son of Louis-Joseph Papineau . However, Papineau was brought up a Protestant and had American roots. His mother, Caroline Rogers, was born in an influential family from Philadelphia...
(1883–1917). Papineau was killed in action in
YpresYpres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
,
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and was among Canada's first Rhodes Scholars. Coincidentally, Trudeau later became the
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for a riding named after Talbot Mercer Papineau's lineage: this includes his great-great-grandfather, seigneur
Joseph PapineauJoseph Papineau was a notary, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.Joseph Papineau was the father of Louis-Joseph Papineau who had the great distinction of being a fiery player in the history of the French dominated British colony called Lower Canada...
(1752–1841) and great-grandfather, reformist
Patriote Louis-Joseph PapineauLouis-Joseph Papineau , born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. His father was Joseph Papineau, also a famous politician in Quebec...
(1786–1871). The program was broadcast in 2007.
Political career
Trudeau became more involved with the Liberal Party throughout the 2000s. He co-hosted a tribute to outgoing prime minister
Jean ChrétienJoseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
at the party's
2003 leadership conventionThe 2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election ended on November 14, 2003, electing Paul Martin as the party's new leader, replacing outgoing Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. The official campaign had lasted several months, although the candidates had been trying to get the position for years...
and was later appointed to chair a task force on youth renewal after the party's narrow defeat in the
2006 federal electionThe 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
.
In October 2006, Trudeau criticized
Quebec nationalismQuebec nationalism is a nationalist movement in the Canadian province of Quebec .-1534–1774:Canada was first a french colony. Jacques Cartier claimed it for France in 1534, and permanent French settlement began in 1608. It was part of New France, which constituted all French colonies in North America...
by describing political nationalism generally as "old idea from the 19th century," "based on a smallness of thought" and not relevant to modern Quebec. This comment was seen as a criticism of
Michael IgnatieffMichael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
, then a candidate in the 2006 Liberal Party leadership election, who was promoting recognition of
QuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
as a nation. Trudeau subsequently wrote a public letter on the subject, describing the idea of Quebec nationhood as "against everything my father ever believed."
Trudeau announced his support for leadership candidate
Gerard KennedyGerard Michael Kennedy is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's Minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada...
shortly before the 2006 convention and introduced Kennedy during the candidates' final speeches. When Kennedy dropped off after the second ballot, Trudeau went with him to support the ultimate winner,
Stéphane DionStéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
.
Rumours circulated in early 2007 that Trudeau would run in a
by-electionA by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in the Montreal riding of Outremont, but he instead announced that he would seek the Liberal nomination in Papineau for the
next general electionThe 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
. He won the nomination on April 29, 2007, defeating two well-known municipal politicians. On election day, Trudeau narrowly defeated one-term
Bloc QuébécoisThe Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
incumbentThe incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Vivian BarbotVivian Barbot is a teacher, activist, and politician. She is a former President of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, a former Member of Parliament and currently serves as interim president of the Bloc Québécois....
. He was one of only a few Liberal candidates to gain a seat at the expense of an opposition party in this election.
Following the election, Edward Greenspon, editor-in-chief of
The Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, noted that Trudeau would "be viewed as few other rookie MPs are—as a potential future prime minister—and scrutinized through that lens."
Member of Parliament
The
Conservative PartyThe Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
won a
minority governmentA minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
in the 2008 election, and Trudeau entered parliament as a member of the Official Opposition. Stéphane Dion resigned as Liberal leader shortly after the election, and rumours circulated that Trudeau, despite his inexperience, could become a candidate to succeed him. Trudeau responded that he was not interested in seeking the position so early in his career. In early 2009, Michael Ignatieff was chosen as the party's new leader.
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
VancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, 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. He was critical of the Harper government's human smuggling legislation, which he argued would penalize the victims of smuggling.
He encouraged a strong Canadian relief effort after the
2010 Haiti earthquakeThe 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
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 Canadian federal election, as the Liberal Party fell to third-party standing in the House of Commons with only thirty-four seats. Michael 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," but added, "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."
Bob RaeRobert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
was chosen as party leader on an interim basis, and a contest for the next full-time leader is expected in 2013. Trudeau now serves as the Liberal critic youth, post-secondary education, and amateur sport.
Municipal politics
Trudeau campaigned on behalf of
George SmithermanGeorge Smitherman is a Canadian politician and broadcaster. He represented the provincial riding of Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2010, when he resigned to contest the mayoralty of Toronto in the 2010 municipal election...
in the
2010 Toronto mayoral electionThe 2010 Toronto municipal election was held on October 25, 2010 to elect a mayor and 44 city councillors in Toronto, Canada. In addition, school trustees were elected to the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest and...
.
Electoral record
External links