How Justin Trudeau lost Canada

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

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🗓️ 9 January 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

After 10 years on the job, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced earlier this week that he is stepping down.

Today, The Washington Post’s Amanda Coletta and host Elahe Izadi break down Trudeau’s career, where this leaves Canadian politics and what this could mean for U.S.-Canada relations.

Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores with help from Monica Campbell. It was mixed by Sam Bair. Thanks to Reem Akkad.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	After nearly 10 years on the job, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that he was stepping down.
0:10.4	So last night over dinner, I told my kids about the decision that I'm sharing with you today.
0:18.1	I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader
0:26.6	through a robust, nationwide, competitive process.
0:34.6	Amanda Colletta covers Canada for The Post, and she was in Toronto watching Trudeau give this speech.
0:42.3	People here have been speculating about Trudeau's political future, whether he might step down, whether he should step down for honestly more than a year, because his popularity has really nosedived,
0:56.6	and that speculation really ratcheted up in recent weeks after his deputy prime minister
1:00.9	resigned from cabinet, sort of setting off this mushrooming caucus rebellion.
1:05.7	So while the announcement wasn't necessarily a surprise,
1:08.4	it was certainly momentous and sort of marked the end of,
1:12.6	you know, a certain brand of progressive politics in Canada, at least for now.
1:19.8	From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. I'm Elahe Izadi. It's Thursday,
1:34.7	January 9th. Today, I talk with Amanda about how Trudeau lost Canada and why it matters.
1:39.2	We'll also get into what this all means for U.S.-Canada relations.
1:43.2	Canada and the United States, that would really be something.
1:49.3	Just as President-elect Donald Trump has been talking about making Canada the 51st state.
1:52.2	They should be a state. That's why I told Trudeau.
2:06.7	Amanda, I think many Americans recognize Justin Trudeau, maybe by look or by name, but ultimately probably don't know that much about him.
2:13.5	So can you just tell me a little bit about who he is and some key highlights of his career?
2:19.9	Justin Trudeau has been in the spotlight for more than a half century.
2:35.4	His birth on Christmas Day in 1971, you know, I'm not generally in the habit of memorizing the birthdays of prime ministers, but in this case, I think many Canadians probably know this because his birth was news here.
2:39.1	And that's because he is the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau,
	...

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