Justin Trudeau's star power dimmed after weathering pandemic and Trump

By David Ljunggren for Reuters

Justin Trudeau, who said on Monday he would resign as Liberal prime minister once the party names a new leader, led Canada for more than nine years before former allies turned against him.

Trudeau, 53, the son of longtime former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, was born into the public eye and inherited his father's sense of style and showmanship. He is one of the few Canadian leaders to win three consecutive terms in office.

During his time in power, Canada overcame two major crises: the pandemic and then-US president Donald Trump's demand to renegotiate the trilateral trade deal with Mexico. Trudeau is an avowed feminist committed to gender parity in his cabinets who was ultimately brought down by an ugly breakup with former Finance minister Chrystia Freeland, the most powerful woman in his political life.

Trudeau took over as Liberal leader in 2013 when the party was in deep trouble and had been reduced to third place in the House of Commons for the first time.

Yet by pushing an upbeat message of "sunny ways", and taking advantage of voter fatigue with the Conservative government, Trudeau propelled his party into power in the 2015 election.

Trudeau was a media sensation and found his face - not to mention his sharp suits and colorful socks - splashed across magazines around the world. On his first foreign trip in November 2015, he was mobbed in a Manila conference centre and had to be whisked away by his security team.

There was also substance. The highlight of his first term proved to be the successful renegotiation of the trilateral trade treaty with the United States and Mexico.

The Canadian side, led by then-Foreign minister Freeland, managed to preserve an agreement that was crucial for the economy.

"Trudeau handled that with aplomb and great strategy and was able to get a new deal. So I think that's going to serve him well in the history books," said historian J D M Stewart, author of two books on Canadian prime ministers.

Trudeau also spent heavily on social programmes, including a commitment to ensure the availability of affordable child care.

Surviving scandals

Trudeau's initial popularity helped him survive calamities that could have sunk other Canadian politicians. In 2017, the ethics commissioner ruled Trudeau had broken conflict-of-interest rules by accepting a vacation, gifts and flights from the Aga Khan.

It was the first time a prime minister had been found to have committed such a transgression. During the 2019 election campaign, it emerged that he had posed in blackface when younger.

He apologised repeatedly, blaming his privileged background. The Liberals retained power, albeit with a minority government that left them reliant on other parties to stay in power.

Within months, the pandemic struck and Trudeau appeared every day on television for months to reassure Canadians. Yet legislators knocking on doors reported he was starting to put voters off. His approval ratings never recovered.

"One of the reasons why he's very unpopular right now is that he's been over-exposed," said Stewart, speaking shortly before Trudeau announced his resignation.

"When you have a big personality ... you're going to probably end up rubbing a few people the wrong way after nine years. They've just had enough of you."

Trudeau called a snap election in 2021, hoping to be rewarded for his handling of the pandemic. The gambit backfired and the result was another minority government.

The prime minister remained as upbeat and talkative as ever, yet few people realised the effort it took him.

"I always understood that I'm an introvert who learned how to be an extrovert to succeed in politics," he told the Toronto Star in 2021.

One aide told Reuters that Trudeau is so shy he found it difficult to look people in the eye, even those closest to him.

Trudeau's discomfort with people he did not know well started to cause issues within the party. In books written after they left government, three ministers complained how hard it had been to get past his inner circle.

Trudeaumania

One reason for Trudeau's caution could be tied to his upbringing as the son of Pierre Trudeau.

"The younger Trudeau has constantly lived with the reality that he is extraordinarily famous and thus most people have always wanted something from him," journalist and author Steve Paikin said in July 2024.

Pierre Trudeau also courted the limelight and his love of fast cars, flashy clothes and romantic interests sparked a late-1960s phenomenon known as "Trudeaumania", a term also used to describe the son's early impact on the media. There were other, more complex, similarities between the men.

"What he inherited from his father, in my opinion, was stubbornness, like not seeing the writing on the wall here," said University of Toronto politics professor Nelson Wiseman, referring to Trudeau's insistence until the end that he was the right man to lead the Liberals.

Trudeau spun his background as a positive, saying those who grew up in fortunate circumstances were obliged to help their community. He worked as a teacher before entering politics.

"It was my way of doing things, my way of having an impact. And it turns out I was pretty good at it, and I am pretty good at it," he told US late-night television host Stephen Colbert in September 2024.

But even those close to Trudeau say he had problems managing personal relationships. In February 2019, former Justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould accused Trudeau and other officials of inappropriately pressuring her to help construction company SNC-Lavalin avoid a corruption trial.

She resigned and Treasury Board president Jane Philpott also quit, citing a loss of confidence in Trudeau. The incident was damaging for a prime minister who described himself as a feminist.

The strains of being prime minister also spread into Trudeau's personal life. In August 2023, he announced he and wife Sophie were separating after 18 years of marriage. The couple, who have three children, had talked frankly about difficulties in their relationship and in recent years were seen together less often in public.

The fateful moment in Trudeau's downfall turned out to be a clash in December with Freeland, who was then finance minister and his main cabinet ally. She quit on 16 December after Trudeau tried to demote her, a move that aides said shocked him.

The resignation set off new calls for Trudeau to step aside as opposition parties called for a no-confidence vote in parliament that Trudeau would not have survived.

-Reuters