Premiership of Justin Trudeau

This article is about Justin Trudeau's time as prime minister and his policies. For the membership of the ministry and cabinet, see 29th Canadian Ministry.

Template:Infobox presidential administration Template:Justin Trudeau series Justin Trudeau's tenure as prime minister began on November 4, 2015, when the first Cabinet headed by him was sworn in by Governor General David Johnston. Trudeau was invited to form the 29th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of Canada following the 2015 election, where Trudeau's Liberal Party won a majority of the seats in the House of Commons of Canada, leading to the resignation of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Trudeau has promised to decentralize power from the Prime Minister's Office and give Cabinet a larger role in governing, stating "government by cabinet is back",

Establishments

In July 2016, Trudeau announced the formation of the first Prime Minister's Youth Council. Thirty Canadians aged 16 to 24 will comprise the board, which will advise the prime minister on education, economy, climate change and other issues affecting youth.

Domestic policy

Bombardier

Trudeau received criticism when he provided a $372.5 million CAD bailout to Bombardier. The public was angered when it was revealed that Bombardier executives received $32 million USD of these funds in bonuses, while laying off 14,500 workers.

Legalization of recreational cannabis

In their electoral platform, the Liberal party wanted to legalize the use of recreational cannabis in Canada. The ministers of Justice, Public Safety and the minister of Health would work on a legislation to legalize cannabis. Provinces asked many time for a delay in order to put the right structures in place. In an interview with Pierre Bruneau on TVA, Justin Trudeau said that July 1, 2018 is not necessarily the date of the legalization.

Electoral reform

In the 2015 electoral campaign, Trudeau's liberals promised that the 2015 federal election would be the last one to be First-past-the-post. If elected, the Trudeau government would reform the electoral system to make it more representative. Soon after being elected, the government asked each members of the House of Commons to hold consultation in their riding to hear the citizens. However, the government announced that the electoral reform would not be engaged because the Prime minister doesn't want to see extremist entering in the House of Commons.

Environment

Soon after being elected, Prime minister Trudeau flew to Paris in order to attend the COP21 Summit. During the 2015 campaign, Trudeau stood up for more regulations for industries and wanted to go further on the battle against Climate Change. His Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna did work hard for pushing the most global accord in Paris. However, the Trudeau government pushes to build many pipeline across Canada in order to sell crude oil from Alberta's soil. Whether it is in Quebec or in British Columbia, the opposition is very strong against those pipelines. This opposition of pipelines took a step forward when BC Premier, John Horgan said that no pipeline transporting sand oil from Alberta would pass in BC. Soon after, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said that no more BC wines would be sold in Alberta.

Feminism

As a well known feminist, Justin Trudeau did nominate an equal gender cabinet with 15 men and 15 women. When a journalist asked him why, soon after the presentation of his cabinet on November 4, 2015, he answered Because it's 2015. It shows his will to promote feminism and equality for all gender. Furthermore, Trudeau did appoint women to very important ministries instead of appointing women to minor portfolios like some of his predecessors. The 2018 G7 summit that Canada will host in Charlevoix, Québec will focus on gender equality and advancement of the place of women in workplaces.

Refugees

The headlines made by the body of Alan Kurdi on a beach of Turkey in September 2015, made a significant turnover during the 2015 campaign. Then candidate Trudeau made a plea that under his Premiership, Canada would accept several refugees in Canada. Only one month after taking office, the first plane of Refugees was landing in Pearson airport in Toronto. The Prime minister Trudeau and Premier Wynne were there for welcoming those refugees.

In winter 2017, soon after President Trump took office in Washington, many Haitians who were in the United States owing of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti decided to pass through the border Upstate New York to cross to Quebec. Afraid of being deported in Haiti, many decided to come illegally to Canada in a hope of a better life. The RCMP, the Custom Agency and the Army set up a temporary camp in Lacolle, Qc, in order to regulate the influx of people trying to come in Canada. As Canadian government recognized the United State as a safe country for immigrants, they would not be taken as refugees if they arrived at a custom border from the United States. As a result that they needed to pass through an illegal way to be able to requesting a refugee statuts. Both Conservatives and NDP oppositions asked the government, both for different reasons, to stop the influx of Haitians form Roxham Road in Lacolle.

Immigration

On 2017 the Liberal government announced Canada will welcome nearly one million immigrants over the next three years. The number of migrants will climb to 310,000 in 2018, up from 300,000 this year. That number will rise to 330,000 in 2019 then 340,000 in 2020.

Quebec City mosque attack

Detailed article : Quebec City mosque shooting On the night of January 29, 2017, Alexandre Bissonnette a young Quebec City citizen open fire in a Mosque in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood of Québec City. Six people were killed and 19 others were seriously injured. The Prime minister said in the House of Commons "This was a group of innocents targeted for practising their faith. Make no mistake, this was a terrorist act. Following the massacre he attend and did a speech at both religious ceremonies along Premier of Québec Philippe Couillard. One year later, he did attack the members of La Meute a small groupe of far-right extremist who are making a lot of noise in Quebec media over the year by calling them Nono avec une patte de chien sur le chandail.

Vegreville Processing Centre

In 2017, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship ministry decided to close the Processing Centre of Vegreville in Alberta and to relocate the centre in Edmonton. The community of 5,000 people, located about 100 km east of Edmonton, decided to fight back the decision. 280 people works at the centre and according to Global News, 2/3 of the workers would quit instead of moving west to Edmonton. The battle against the closure of the Vegreville Processing Centre, is supported by the Rural Canada Matters movement. It's causing a lot of noise in Rural Alberta, a community far from being for the liberals. (See : Western Alienation)

Phoenix Pay system

Main article: Phoenix Pay System

Foreign policy

See also: List of international prime ministerial trips made by Justin Trudeau

Death of Fidel Castro

After the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in November 2016, Trudeau released a statement that described Castro as a "remarkable leader" and a "larger than life leader who served his people." Trudeau was criticized by political observers in Canada and the United States for the statement. United States Senator Marco Rubio called the statement "shameful and embarrassing," while Canadian MP Maxime Bernier called his remarks "repugnant." The Washington Post questioned many of the claims made in Trudeau's statements, saying that Trudeau "appears to accept outdated Cuban government spin as current fact."

China

Trudeau visited China in December 2017 to launch trade negotiations. Before agreeing to formally start talks, Trudeau wanted China to agree to a broad framework included collective bargaining and occupational health and safety standards as part of a progressive trade agenda, but this was not acceptable to Premier Li Keqiang, while this also "raises obvious questions about the advice the Prime Minister’s Office was getting from its embassy in Beijing, and in particular from its ambassador, former Liberal cabinet minister John McCallum".

India

Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Washington D.C., 1 April 2016

Trudeau drew criticism for his trip to India in February 2018, as the official schedule had few business meetings while having numerous photo ops at tourist stops. The BBC wrote that Trudeau was "jet-setting around the country to take part in what appears to be a series of photo ops cunningly designed to showcase his family's elaborate traditional wardrobe" and suggested that "Trudeau Family’s Attire Too Flashy Even For An Indian". In addition, Liberal MP Randeep Sarai originally invited convicted attempted murder Jaspal Atwal to an event (Atwal posed with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau at an event in India), although the invite was later rescinded. The Atwal invite controversy also led to fears among Indian prime minister Narendra Modi that Trudeau was appealing to Sikh fundamentalists; while Sikhs make up a major part of Trudeau's political support in Canada, Sikh separatists have had a long history of violence in India.

Saudi Arabia

See also: Canada–Saudi Arabia relations

Trudeau has been urged to stop the $15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia – believed to be the largest arms sale in Canadian history. The Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen has been criticized for "indiscriminately targeting civilians". Saudi Arabia is also accused of massive human rights violations. Trudeau has defended the Harper-negotiated arms deal with Saudi Arabia as "a matter of principle." He said: "It’s important that people know that when they sign a deal with Canada, a change of government isn’t going to lead to the contract being ripped up."

See also

• List of international prime ministerial trips made by Justin Trudeau