Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau married Sophie Grégoire in 2005, and they have three children: Xavier, Ella-Grace, and Hadrien. The couple announced their separation in August 2023. In February 2026, property documents indicated that they were in the process of divorcing.

Trudeau and American singer Katy Perry confirmed their relationship on Instagram in December 2025. He moved back to Montreal after living in Ottawa for a year following his resignation as prime minister, and purchased a family home in the Montreal borough of Outremont.

Trudeau was born in Ottawa while his father, Pierre Trudeau, was prime minister. His parents separated in 1977 and divorced in 1984. He attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from McGill University in 1994, and completed a Bachelor of Education degree at the University of British Columbia in 1998.

Before entering federal politics, Trudeau taught French and mathematics in Vancouver. He chaired the youth service organisation Katimavik from 2002 to 2006 and promoted youth participation, environmental protection, and avalanche safety. His younger brother Michel died in an avalanche in 1998, and Trudeau subsequently became involved in efforts to improve winter sports safety.

A nationally televised eulogy for his father in 2000 brought Trudeau renewed public attention. He later appeared as Major Talbot Papineau in the 2007 CBC miniseries The Great War and published the memoir Common Ground in 2014.

Trudeau entered the House of Commons in 2008 after winning the Montreal riding of Papineau. He was reelected in 2011 and served as a Liberal critic for areas including youth, multiculturalism, citizenship and immigration, post-secondary education, and amateur sport. In April 2013, he won the leadership of the Liberal Party with 80.1 percent of the vote.

In the 2015 federal election, Trudeau led the Liberals from third-party status to a 184-seat majority government. The party received 39.5 percent of the popular vote, and Trudeau became the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history at age 43. His victory ended Stephen Harper's tenure as prime minister and was associated with a campaign centred on "real change," middle-class economic measures, environmental policy, and diversity.

As prime minister, Trudeau's government introduced the Canada Child Benefit, legalized medically assisted dying and recreational cannabis, established federal carbon pricing, and created a national child-care programme. It also resettled Syrian refugees, pursued Indigenous reconciliation initiatives, and negotiated the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, known as CUSMA. His government appointed Canada's first gender-balanced Cabinet.

Trudeau led the Liberals to minority governments in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his government introduced emergency benefit programmes, supported provinces and territories, restricted international travel, and oversaw the procurement and distribution of vaccines. In 2022, he invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time since its enactment in response to the Freedom Convoy protests. A public inquiry found that the legal threshold had been met, while the Federal Court later ruled that the invocation was not justified and violated Charter rights.

His tenure also included major controversies. The ethics commissioner found that he violated conflict-of-interest law in the Aga Khan affair and the SNC-Lavalin affair, while he was cleared of wrongdoing in the WE Charity investigation. In 2019, photographs and video emerged showing Trudeau wearing brownface and blackface makeup, prompting public apologies during the federal election campaign. The Liberals won that election and formed a minority government.

Trudeau announced in January 2025 that he would resign as Liberal leader and prime minister after a successor was chosen, citing internal party battles and the need for a political reset. Mark Carney became Liberal leader in March, and Trudeau formally resigned as prime minister on March 14, 2025.