Justin Trudeau follows father Pierre as Canadian PM in shock election result

(Image credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

published 20 October 2015

Who is Justin Trudeau? He's the newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, following in the footsteps of his late father, Pierre Trudeau, who came to power in 1968 on a wave of support dubbed 'Trudeau-mania'. Apart from a brief period in opposition, Pierre led the country until 1984. He was widely considered the most charismatic politician on the world stage since John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.

What are his politics? Like his father, Justin Trudeau is leader of the Canadian Liberal party. He is pro-choice, backs the legalisation of marijuana and has promised to raise taxes for the highest earning one per cent of Canadians. His victory ends nine years of Conservative rule under Stephen Harper, considered by many middle-of-the-road voters to have been too divisive a leader. Britons might imagine moving straight from Margaret Thatcher's Tories to Tony Blair's New Labour, without John Major in between.

Like father like son? Pierre was known for his dashing good looks and snappy dress sense, famously appearing at a 1970 football match in a floppy hat and long black cape. Justin's style is more varsity jacket and jeans. As for his political prowess, time will tell. Currently, Justin "channels the star power – if not quite the political heft – of his father," the Associated Press reports from Toronto.

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How old is Justin? He was born on Christmas Day 1971, making him 43. He already has a wife and three children, whereas his father was single when he became PM at 48. Pierre then met and married a 22-year-old Californian "hippie chick", Margaret Sinclair, with whom he had three sons – Justin, Alexander and Michel (who died in an avalanche in 1998).

What sort of childhood was it? Extraordinary – but sad. As a small boy, Justin met all the world leaders of his father's era. But amid reports of Margaret's mental instability and Pierre's affairs, the Trudeau marriage fell apart under the world's gaze (though they did not officially divorce until he left office in 1984). The rumour that Mick Jagger had an affair with Margaret when she attended a Stones concert in Toronto in 1977 has been discounted by Jagger, who, as the National Post reported, is quoted as saying that she was "just a very sick girl in search of something. She found it – but not with me." In an article about the affairs Pierre had with the actresses Margot Kidder, Kim Cattrall and others, Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail wrote: "There was only one woman Mr Trudeau failed to charm: Margaret Thatcher. She loathed him."

Where did Justin go to school? The young Trudeau attended his father's alma mater, College Jean-de-Brebeuf, in Montreal, before reading literature at McGill University.

Then what happened? He had spells teaching maths, studying engineering and environmental geography and even coaching bungee-jumpers before going into politics. He was taught how to box by his father (better known for his judo black belt) and in 2012 famously gave the Tory senator Patrick Brazeau a thrashing in a charity boxing match. Justin emerged "unmarked, barely tousled, not even breathing hard," the Toronto Star reported.

What was the first sign of Justin's political ambition? The eulogy he gave at his father's state funeral in 2000. "More than anything, to me, he was dad. And what a dad. He loved us with the passion and the devotion that encompassed his life. He taught us to believe in ourselves, to stand up for ourselves, to know ourselves and to accept responsibility for ourselves. We knew we were the luckiest kids in the world… something that we would have to spend the rest of our lives to work very hard to live up to." As The Guardian reports, that eulogy "stoked whispers of a dynasty that has now secured its place in Canadian history".

How did Justin get to the top? He became Liberal MP for the riding (constituency) of Papineau, Montreal in 2008, and five years later was elected Liberal party leader. The young Trudeau is credited with the renaissance of the Liberals after their disastrous performance in the 2011 general election when they were reduced to just 34 seats and lost their status as the official opposition to the New Democratic Party. To turn that around and win 184 of the 338 seats in Canada's House of Commons, as the Liberals have just done, is deemed remarkable. What about his own family? Justin is married to Sophie Gregoire, a TV reporter he first knew as a schoolboy. The pair met up again when they co-hosted a charity ball in 2003. They married in May 2005 and have three children: Xavier, aged eight, Ella-Grace six, and 18-month-old Hadrian. They live in Ottawa, seat of the Canadian government.