A candid dive into the life and political successes and setbacks of Justin Trudeau


What is the legacy of Justin Trudeau, the most progressive social reformer among Canada’s prime ministers and world leaders of his time? The blunders of Trudeau and his government are weighed here alongside his lasting achievements, including lifting hundreds of thousands of children from poverty with his Canada Child Benefit, launching the first national affordable daycare system, and reconciling with Indigenous people in Canada more than any previous prime minister. Amid rising protectionism and xenophobia in advanced economies, Trudeau opened Canada to more international markets than ever before and welcomed a record number of immigrants.


Award-winning journalist David Olive contrasts Trudeau with those who most influenced him — his father, the intellectual and emotionally aloof former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, and his beloved and free-spirited mother, Margaret Sinclair, who abandoned her family in Justin’s youth but remains close to her eldest son. In his unlikely rise to lead and reshape one of the world’s most successful countries, Trudeau is revealed as a master and victim of intrigue and as an underdog and relentless fighter often given little chance of achieving his many triumphs in politics — winning global free trade agreements and strengthening Canada’s economy and social safety net for generations to come.