Ottawa: Justin Trudeau, who said Monday that he would resign as a liberal prime minister once the party appoints a new leader, led Canada for more than nine years before the former allies turned against him.
Trudeau, 53, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was born in the public eye and inherited the sense of his father's style and show.
He is one of the few Canadian leaders to win three consecutive terms in office. During his time in power, Canada exceeded two important crises: the pandemic and the demand of the then US president Donald Trump to renegotiate the trilateral trade agreement with Mexico.
Trudeau is a declared feminist committed to gender parity in its cabinets that was finally shot down by a ugly breakdown with the former finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, the most powerful woman in her political life.
Trudeau assumed the position of liberal leader in 2013 when the party was in deep problems and had been reduced to third place in the House of Commons for the first time.
However, by sending an optimistic message of “sunny forms”, and taking advantage of the fatigue of voters with the conservative government, Trudeau promoted his party to power in the 2015 elections.
Trudeau was a sensation of media and found his face, not to mention his sharp costumes and colorful socks, dotted in magazines around the world.
On his first foreign trip in November 2015, he was harassed at a Manila conference center and had to be taken by his security team.
There was also substance. The highlight of its first term turned out to be the successful renegotiation of the Trilateral Trade Agreement with the United States and Mexico.
The Canadian side, led by the then Freeland lining minister, managed to preserve an agreement that was crucial for the economy.
“Trudeau managed that with poise and great strategy and was able to obtain a new agreement. So I think that will serve him well in the history books,” said historian JDM Stewart, author of two books on Canadian prime ministers.
Trudeau also spent a lot on social programs, including the commitment to guarantee the availability of affordable child care.
Surviving scandals
Trudeau's initial popularity helped him survive calamities that could have sunk other Canadian politicians.
In 2017, the Ethics Commissioner ruled that Trudeau had broken the rules of conflict of interest by accepting a holiday, gifts and flights of the Aga Khan. It was the first time that a prime minister had committed such transgression.
During the 2019 election campaign, it was learned that he had posed on the black face when he was younger.
He apologized repeatedly, blaming his privileged background. The liberals retained power, although with a minority government that let them depend on other parts to remain in power.
In a matter of months, the pandemic hit and Trudeau appeared every day on television for months to reassure the Canadians. However, legislators calling the doors reported that he was beginning to discourage voters. His approval ratings never recovered.
“One of the reasons why it is very unpopular at this time is that it has been overexposed,” said Stewart, speaking shortly before Trudeau announced his resignation.
“When you have a great personality [..]. You will probably end up rubbing some people in the wrong way after nine years. They have had enough of you. “
Trudeau called for a quick choice in 2021, hoping to be rewarded for its handling. The gambit failed and the result was another minority government.
The prime minister remained as optimistic and talkative as ever, however, few people realized the effort that took him.
“I always understood that I am an introvert who learned to be outgoing to succeed in politics,” he told Toronto star in 2021.
An assistant told him Reuters That Trudeau is so shy that it was difficult for him to look at people in the eye, even the closest to him.
Trudeau's discomfort with the people he did not know began to cause problems within the party. In the books written after they left the government, three ministers complained about how difficult it had been overcome their intimate circle.
Trudeaumania
A reason for the precaution of Trudeau could be linked to his education as the son of Pierre Trudeau.
“The young Trudeau has constantly lived with the reality that he is extraordinarily famous and, therefore, most people have always wanted something of him,” said the journalist and author Steve Paikin in July 2024.
Pierre Trudeau also courted the center of attention and his love for fast cars, striking clothes and romantic interest The media. There were other more complex similarities among men.
“What he inherited from his father, in my opinion, was stubbornness, how not to see the writing on the wall here,” said politics professor at Toronto University, Nelson Wiseman, referring to Trudeau's insistence until the end until the end that it was the right man to lead the liberals.
Trudeau turned his background as positive, saying that those who grew in lucky circumstances were obliged to help their community. He worked as a teacher before entering politics.
“It was my way of doing things, my way of having an impact. And it turns out that I was quite good on that, and I am quite good in that,” Night Television presenter Stephen Colbert told us in September 2024.
But even those close to Trudeau say he had trouble managing personal relationships.
In February 2019, former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould accused Trudeau and other officials to press it inappropriately to help the construction company SNC-LAVALIN to avoid a corruption trial.
She resigned and the president of the Treasury Board, Jane Philpott, also resigned, citing a loss of confidence in Trudeau. The incident was detrimental to a prime minister who described himself as a feminist.
The strains of being prime minister also extended to Trudeau's personal life.
In August 2023, he announced that he and his wife Sophie separated after 18 years of marriage. The couple, who has three children, had spoken frankly about the difficulties in their relationship and in recent years they saw each other together less frequently.
The fateful moment in the fall of Trudeau turned out to be a clash in December with Freeland, who was then Minister of Finance and his main ally of the Cabinet.
Renó on December 16 after Trudeau tried to degrade it, a movement that according to the attendees surprised him. The resignation triggered new calls to Trudeau to take aside, since the opposition parties requested a vote without confidence in the Parliament that Trudeau would not have survived.
