The End of Justin Trudeau’s Canada

from The New York Times I'm Natalie kro. and this is the. [Music]. daily this week Justin Trudeau said he'd. Ste down as prime minister of Canada. that marked the stunning downfall of a. man who was once seen as a global icon. of progressive. politics today my colleague matina. stevis Griff explains the forces that. led to Trudeau's collapse and she talks. about the populous leader who could.

replace him just as Donald Trump returns. to. [Music]. power it's Wednesday January. 8th matina for me and I think for a lot. of people when we heard Justin Trudeau. was stepping down it felt like a pretty. remarkable moment partially because he's. been in power for so many years almost a. decade and he'd really become something. of a fixture in global politics but also.

because of the way that he was doing it. the way he was resigning not finishing. out his term choosing to just kind of. exit the political stage you cover. Canada what did you make of that. moment I mean I know what you mean. Natalie but honestly he resigned but I. really don't think it was much of a. choice yes he had been around for a. really long time it's almost kind of. hard to remember a time when he wasn't.

Canadian Prime Minister but if you've. been following Canadian politics you. would know this was a really long time. coming and for many Canadians well. overdue he had been under tremendous. pressure from within his party to step. down and the public had made it. abundantly clear that they were no. longer supporting him his popularity was. at historic lows and eventually the. growing CS from within his party for him. to step down showed him the exit well.

okay so tell me how did he get to that. point where he really didn't have a. choice but to do what he did I mean. broadly speaking The Arc of Justin. Trudeau's narrative is one of rapid and. spectacular rise and slow and steady. decline and really that rise kind of. almost started from his birth he was. born while his father was in his first. term of being minister of Canada his.

late father Pierre Trudeau and Justin. Trudeau is born in the spotlight and. raised in the trappings of Canadian. political power but when he decides. himself as a young man to enter politics. uh running for Member of Parliament in. the late 2000s with the Liberal Party. his father's party he's sort of seen as. this wimp or kind of weak from a. character perspective so despite his. back ground he's definitely not.

automatically commanding the respect of. the political establishment in. Canada it is now time for your main. event please welcome Justin. [Music]. to and one of the first things I think. he did to dispel that notion was that he. literally participated in a char.

boxing match against a very serious. conservative politician who had a black. belt in karate Trudeau walking in he's. got he's got a determined look on his. face and of course people anticipated. Trudeau to get destroyed but he wasn't. he actually hanging there today he. becomes a man Brian oh he's just whing. and he won the. match I that a Lial take a punch I.

proved uh that uh we're not people who. can be counted out even though we seem. uh nicer and a little more touchy feely. and we believe in good things and we. believe I know it sounds really basic. but people started calling him a fighter. after that so it's fair to say this is. actually good for his image while it may. seem kind of gimmicky it worked oh. absolutely and within a year Trudeau. becomes the lead.

of the liberal party now to be clear the. liberal party was a disaster when. Trudeau became its leader in. 2013 and Justin Trudeau quickly. resuscitated it brought it back from the. dead and by. 2015 had done such a good job putting. the party back together and bringing it. back to strength that he sweeps into. government and becomes prime.

[Music]. minister I got elected on a platform of. openness of. transparency of Engagement of uh. listening to Canadians of trusting. people with real answers to tough. questions uh a level of respect for. Citizens uh that for me uh is at the. heart of what a 21st century democracy. looks like and he's obviously popular in. can he's just won this very important.

election but boy is he popular globally. he just explodes on the global political. scene like a rock star it's no secret. that Canadian Prime Minister Justin. Trudeau is hot and smouldering but would. you be surprised to learn that when. Justin was younger he was even hotter. and. smolder ow. Canada the global press is faing over.

him from the broad sheet serious papers. to the glossy women's magazines Vogue. declares him one of the unconventional. hotties of the year it's it's really a. [Music]. phenomenon and I think he was seen by a. lot of people as a sort of successor to. the Obama Progressive.

remember this is the tail end of the. second Obama presidency and here's this. younger guy in Canada who seems to stand. for sort of the same principles the same. values and have that same sort of Sunny. hopeful Outlook right it really does. take you back to this era where that. brand of progressive politics was just. in and and Justin Trudeau is a global. poster boy for those ideals absolutely. he declares himself a feminist.

he also pursues policies that we. identify with Progressive politics such. as like climate change related policies. reconciliation with indigenous. communities in Canada and a very. pro-refugee stance in the middle of the. Syrian Civil War right and then I. remember Trump gets elected the next. year and Trudeau really kind of takes on. this role as a counterweight to him and. his approach to immigration Brit large.

absolutely the world projects on him. expectations of being the antithesis of. trump and Trudeau really leans into the. idea that he's the opposite of trump in. fact he takes the opportunity to. showcase that straight off the bat soon. after Donald Trump is inaugurated he. announces a major policy known as the. Muslim ban and in response to that. Trudeau goes to what was then still.

known as Twitter and says to those fling. persecution Terror and War Canadians. will welcome you regardless of your. faith diversity is our strength #w. welcome to Canada is there a more. anti-trump message than that in that. moment I don't think so I remember at. the time for liberals in the United. States you know he was this you know. ideal leader I mean I remember there was. like talk of how they were all going to.

move to Canada yeah totally it was it. was a whole thing and you know he really. relished that reputation and it had. staying power on the global stage but at. home his star started to dim around that. time tell me about that what happened. well there were a series of what we. would call. scandals as I said this was a a personal.

family vacation uh where we visited. someone who uh I have uh uh known pretty. much all my life he accepted this. luxurious holiday on a private island as. a gift and and many people saw it as. deeply inappropriate and a conflict of. interest Canadian Prime Minister Justin. Trudeau says he deeply regrets wearing. black face in a resurfaced photo photos. of him from his student days wearing. black face emerged this is something uh.

that uh I deeply deeply regret and this. really shocked people because remember. you know Trudeau's whole thing was that. he was a very Progressive. politician so you start to see the shine. come off of the image at least of this. Golden Boy of politics who at one point. really seems to have it all I'm now. wondering about his track record of. actually governing how are his Poli IES. going over with.

voters look he definitely scores a few. wins but he very quickly gets into. trouble and starts struggling in that. department as well I think a good. example of that is this policy known as. the carbon tax that he launches and it. just becomes deeply unpopular it's. convoluted it's complicated the. opposition paints it as this huge burden. on Canadians and he continues to. struggle to to sell it as a.

success but where his problems and his. troubles with the Canadian public really. start to compound is when the pandemic. hits and as vaccine mandates and. protracted restrictions on movement and. social interactions and the economy. really take their toll on Canadian. Society a lot of people start more. directly turning against him I have. actually been out here since since last. Saturday Monty who did not want to share.

his last name is one of hundreds of. truckers blocking the roads around. parliament in Canada's capital city. demanding an end to vaccine mandates and. there is a small but very vocal minority. in Canada that really erupts in protest. against these restrictions also known as. the freedom Convoy the freedom Convoy. that's what they call themselves it's. snowballed now to sort of blockade in. for days we've seen chaos in Ottawa.

that's started as a protest against. vaccine requirements for Lorry drivers. but it's mushroom to an anti-government. movement which has paralyzed not only. this capital city but vital trade routes. between Canada and the US and it sort of. grew into a broader protest movement. against Justin Trudeau and the things he. stood for and of course coming out of. the pandemic Canada's economy like so. many other economies around the world is.

really crippled it's facing rapid. inflation and labor shortages so you. have all these economic problems. starting to stack up and I think this. brings us to one of the biggest policy. failures for trudo which has been his. immigration policy in response to those. post-pandemic labor shortages and in. order to get Canada's economy going. again the Trudeau government decides to. bring in millions of temporary foreign.

workers to fill in jobs that they're. saying Canadians won't. do and the result for that is that. within two and a half three years the. country adds more than 3 million people. in its population it goes from 38. million total population to more than 41. million wow and while that actually does. do some good things for the economy the.

addition of millions of new people in. Canada stretches resources that were. already quite thin and it compounds the. housing crisis and an Access to Health. Care crisis that were already Brewing. since before the. pandemic ultimately Mr Trudeau. acknowledged that this policy had. created serious problems and announced. that it needed to be rapidly curtailed. but the damage had been done to his.

reputation and to the trust that the. electorate showed him and Trudeau sees. his popularity plummet to Historic lows. he becomes frankly loathed among. Canadians who poll after Poll for. several months say they want him out. giving his opponents the conservative. party a double digigit lead coming to.

the end of 2024 a 25 point lead over the. Liberals wow so what's the response from. the party the liberal party doesn't have. a formal mechanism to get rid of. Trudeau and it's also Trudeau's party. remember the party was crushed and he. brought it back from the dead so it. becomes really hard to separate the. party and the man. and yet calls are growing ever louder.

for Canadian Prime Minister Justin trau. to quit on a recent call involving a. third of its liberal party's members of. parliament they all agreed that it was. time for the PM to go starting from. members of parliament and growing voices. within the party start to ask him to. leave and let someone else lead the. party and the country the Prime Minister. needs to step down he needs to step down. immediately for us to have any chance in. the next election I'm here to repeat the.

message that I delivered to the Prime. Minister that I believe he needs to step. down and call leadership race the. message that I've been getting loud and. clear and more and more strongly as time. goes by is that it's time for him to go. and I agree but Mr Trudeau appears. completely attached to his position he. says I am not going anywhere until in. December one of his most important. allies the country's Deputy Prime. Minister a woman named chrisa Freeland. resigned in acrimony and indicates that.

she can no longer support him she says. Trudeau has been governing the country. with a narrow political gain in mind. rather than having the best interest of. Canadians at heart and this is the straw. that breaks the camels. [Music]. back so I thought it might be fun for us. to do this. again Justin Trudeau takes the holiday. season to reflect on his future and then.

on Monday he finally addresses the. nation I intend to resign as party. leader as prime minister and announces. that he intends to step down as prime. minister and as Liberal Party leader we. were elected to strengthen the economy. post-pandemic and advanced Canada's. interests in a complicated world and. that is exactly the job that I and we.

will continue to do for. Canadians and in doing so he puts the. country on course for a lengthy messy. chaotic transition at the end of which a. new leadership could put Canada on a. completely different course to the one. it's been on for the last 10. [Music]. years we'll be right back. [Music].

so matina now that Trudeau has announced. that he's stepping down what happens. next where does this messy chaotic. transition that you mentioned where does. it go from here well practically. speaking the liberal party will take the. next few weeks to elect a new leader and.

that person will automatically become. the Prime Minister but I think that will. be very short-lived I think as we go. into the spring the country will hold. general elections and even though a new. liberal leader could rapidly transform. the fortunes of the party polling does. suggest that the Conservative Party of. Canada and its leader Pierre POV a. 45-year-old career politician are going. to be winning or likely winning the next.

federal election okay so tell me about. him this potential new. leader after 9 years of this prime. minister everything is broken. 25% of Canadians are now living in. poverty 2 million lined up at food banks. 38% more people are homeless housing. costs have doubled it wasn't like this. before this prime minister and it won't. be like this after he's gone so Pier po. presents as a pretty mainstream populist.

21st century right-wing leader capping. spending cutting waste to bring down. inflation and interest rates by removing. bureaucracy to build more affordable. homes and his message tends to be short. piy he loves slogans like a the tax stop. the crime he endorses traditional family. he believes in the nuclear family and so.

on and I think a lot of his messaging is. fairly textbook conservative he believes. for example in the deregulation of the. economy getting the government out of. the way of people's lives of businesses. cutting red tape same things that we're. hearing from conservatives in other. parts of the world but Mr puler is also. someone who has been very very smart.

about harvesting this moment of. anti-progressive politics that are. really raising right now some people. might call it. anti-woke and he has been able to make. that part of his brand the Prime. Minister has no. business in decisions that should rest. with provinces and parents so my message. to Justin Trudeau is B out and let. provinces run schools and let parents.

raise kids and his promise to Canadians. is to frankly be the opposite of Justin. Trudeau this is the consequence of. Trudeau NDP policies and Canadians. across the country but especially right. here in the South Okanagan are demanding. Common Sense which is what I. [Music]. represent it sounds like he's someone. who may be more potentially aligned with. Trump than Trudeau right I sort of think.

of poer and Trump as ideological cousins. I think there's a lot of overlap in some. of the core traditional conservative. ideas that both leaders espouse and and. those are again quite textbook they're. not particularly fresh or new I think. too that Mr pever is very smart about. using social media in his favor of. course this is a moment with with Elon. Musk and X that is playing in Mr.

pooler's favor and he really knows how. to use that he has being a strong. Communicator experts say the strongest. Communicator Justin Trudeau had ever had. to face and Justin Trudeau was. considered a very strong. communicator and so yes there are. several similarities with Trump. nonetheless Mr POV is also very Canadian. you will hear him talk about really. curbing the immigration program that Mr.

Trudeau ushered in which backfired but. you will never really hear him say. things that are profoundly. anti-immigrant and so there are still. many elements of Mr poer that are you. know unique to to this country and. unique to Canadian conservatism I think. so I mean the results of these elections. are not a foregone conclusion by any. stretch but it sounds like if PV takes. the Reigns of government in Canada Trump. would be facing a very different.

situation in Canada than the one that he. had when he first came to office I mean. we're talking about a potential as you. said ideological cousin versus what he. had in Trudeau which was someone who was. opposed to him. ideologically I agree I mean it will. definitely be different we don't have. enough information right now to know. what poy ever plans to do when it comes. to actually sitting down with Donald. Trump and I would add here that just.

from. observation political affiliation does. not necessarily mean that you get a good. deal from Donald Trump so much of what. transpires When leaders meet with Donald. Trump trying to advance their country's. agenda comes down to tactics and. personal chemistry and this is a. personal chemistry that's completely. untested as opposed for example to the. Trudeau Trump chemistry which we watch. play out for several years and it's not.

just about getting along right Canada. and the United States are each other's. closest allies and biggest trading. partners and Mr Trump has beef with. Canada he has Canada in his crosshairs. he has talked about wanting to close the. trade surplus that Canada has over the. United States he wants Canada to do a. better job protecting the joint border. between the two countries and he is very. importantly threatened to slap a 25%.

tariff on Canadian Goods imported into. the United States a tariff that would. crush the Canadian economy and send it. into a recession so these are very. serious issues that the new leader of. Canada will need to negotiate over with. Mr Trump and yes potentially being. ideological cousins could be an. advantage for Mr poer if he is that. leader but it's not a foregone. conclusion that the two men would see.

eye to eye it would be a new. relationship that would have to be built. up and. tested matina just reflecting on the. larger story you've been telling us and. you alluded to this earlier the fact. that there has been this larger. anti-incumbency movement across the. globe specifically against liberal. incumbents in many countries you have. this mix of anti-immigrant sentiment and. economic frustrations that have really. spelled trouble for Progressive.

political parties and I'm wondering what. you think the fall of. Trudeau signifies for the. world I mean Natalie I think first of. all the end of the Trudeau era here in. Canada certainly fits that Trend that. you've described the rise of Voters. against incumbents particularly liberal. governments that were ow during the. pandemic people are around the world. we've seen it in the United States and.

in Europe have become deeply. disenchanted with the way Progressive. politicians manag the economic Fallout. as well as other elements and facets of. their lives in the course of the last. few years and are just voting them out. one by one and Justin Trudeau certainly. fits that. pattern and I think there's a sort of. you know poetry to it not to be all. romantic in a tragic way but you know.

this is an era of the growing popularity. of progressive Politics the vision and. the hope and the dream around it that. Trudeau was an icon for and that era is. very clearly coming to an end a crushing. end and it almost feels. inevitable that with it Trudeau's career. would also end and and Mark a sort of.

bookend to that period of progressive. politics and what will come next for. Centrist or center-left political. parties in the developed world is Up For. Debate but whatever Justin Trudeau stood. for as a symbol in the past I think we. can safely say that that's. [Music]. over matina thank you so much thank you. Natalie. [Music].

we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today Canada and the United States that. would really be something you get rid of. that artificially drawn line and you. take a look at what that looks like and. it would also be much better for.

National Security don't forget we. basically protect Canada in an hourlong. news conference from Mar Lago on Tuesday. president-elect Donald Trump repeated. his threats to take control of Canada. and said he told hockey Legend Wayne. grety to VI for the Prime Minister ship. Canada is subsidized to the tune of uh. about $200 billion a year plus other. things Trump criticized Canada saying it. should become a US state because of the. financial support the United States. provides the country can you assure the.

world that as you try to uh get control. of these areas you are not going to use. military or economic coercion no can you. tell us a little Trump also refused to. rule out using military force to Annex. Greenland an autonomous territory of. Denmark and to retake the Panama Canal. which the US seeded to Panama by treaty. in the late. 1990s the president-elect threatened to. quote tariff Denmark at a very high.

level if it doesn't give Greenland to. the. US firing back Justin Trudeau said their. quote isn't a snowball's chance in hell. of joining Canada in the US Danish Prime. Minister meta Frederickson said that. Greenland's prime minister was very. clear that quote Greenland is not for. sale and will not be in the future and. the Panamanian foreign minister said. quote the canal belongs to the. panamanians and it will continue to be. that way and. a wildfire broke out in Southern.

California on Tuesday morning and. rapidly grew in intensity The Blaze. destroyed homes and forced tens of. thousands of residents to flee by. Tuesday evening Governor Gavin Nome. declared a state of emergency in Los. Angeles and Ventura counties as the. Wildfire continued to rage officials. warned that the worst was Yet to. [Music]. Come today's episode was produced by. Carlos PTO Diana win and Michael Simon.

Johnson it was edited by Maria burn and. Devin Taylor fact check by Susan Lee. contains original music by Marian Lozano. Diane Wong and Alicia baup and was. engineered by Alysa. Moxley our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben lansberg of wonderly. [Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Natalie. kitro see you tomorrow.

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