Justin Trudeau, Canadian educator and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Canada
Justin Pierre James Trudeau (; French: [ʒystɛ̃ tʁydo] (listen), born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada since November 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since April 2013. Trudeau is the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history after Joe Clark; he is also the first to be the child or other relative of 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 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature, then in 1998 acquired a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia. After graduating he taught French, humanities, math and drama at the secondary school level in Vancouver, before relocating back to Montreal in 2002 to further his studies. Advocacy work related to youth and environmental issues would be his primary focus serving as chair for the youth charity Katimavik and as director of the not-for-profit Canadian Avalanche Association. In 2006, he was appointed as chair of the Liberal Party's Task Force on Youth Renewal.
In the 2008 federal election, he was elected to represent the riding of Papineau in the House of Commons. He served as the Liberal Party's Official Opposition critic for youth and multiculturalism in 2009, and the following year he became critic for citizenship and immigration. In 2011, he was appointed as a critic for secondary education and sport. Trudeau won the leadership of the Liberal Party in April 2013 and led his party to victory in the 2015 federal election, moving the third-placed Liberals from 36 seats to 184 seats, the largest-ever numerical increase by a party in a Canadian federal election.
Major government initiatives he undertook during his first term as prime minister included legalizing recreational marijuana through the Cannabis Act; attempting Senate appointment reform by establishing the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments and establishing the federal carbon tax. He grappled with ethics investigations concerning the Aga Khan affair and later the SNC-Lavalin affair. In foreign policy, Trudeau's government negotiated trade deals such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and signed the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Trudeau led the Liberals to consecutive minority governments in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. During his second term, he confronted the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, announced an "assault-style" weapons ban in response to the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, and was cleared of wrongdoing during a third ethics investigation surrounding the WE Charity scandal. In 2022, he invoked the Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy protests, the first time the act was brought into force since it was enacted in 1988.
1971Dec, 25
Justin Trudeau
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Events on 1971
- 8Jan
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh. - 7Jun
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. - 11Jul
Chile
Copper mines in Chile are nationalized. - 21Sep
Bhutan
Bahrain, Bhutan and Qatar join the United Nations. - 24Nov
D. B. Cooper
During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (aka D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money. He has never been found.