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Keeping Canadians safe is the Government of Canada’s top priority. We know that one Canadian killed by gun violence is one too many, which is why, two years ago, we banned over 1,500 types of military-style assault firearms. We also strengthened our gun control laws to expand background checks and keep firearms out of the wrong hands. These measures are helping to keep our children and communities safe.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced the introduction of new legislation to further strengthen gun control in Canada and keep Canadians safe from gun violence. Bill C-21 puts forward some of the strongest gun control measures in over 40 years.

These new measures include:

• Implementing a national freeze on handguns to prevent individuals from bringing newly acquired handguns into Canada and from buying, selling, and transferring handguns within the country.
• Taking away the firearms licenses of those involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment, such as stalking.
• Fighting gun smuggling and trafficking by increasing criminal penalties, providing more tools for law enforcement to investigate firearms crimes, and strengthening border security measures.
• Addressing intimate partner violence, gender-based violence, and self-harm involving firearms by creating a new “red flag” law that would enable courts to require that individuals considered a danger to themselves or others surrender their firearms to law enforcement, while protecting the safety of the individual applying to the red flag process, including by protecting their identity. In addition, the government will invest $6.6 million to help raise awareness of the new law and provide supports to vulnerable and marginalized groups to navigate the provisions.

In addition to this new legislation, the Government of Canada will require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered so they can never hold more than five rounds and will ban the sale and transfer of large capacity magazines under the Criminal Code.

These are the measures that chiefs of police, families of survivors, doctors, and advocates have been asking us to take, and they build on the many concrete actions we have already taken. The Government of Canada will work with provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, and municipalities to implement these measures, and will continue to do whatever it takes to keep guns out of our communities and make Canada a safer country for everyone.

“One Canadian killed by gun violence is one too many. I’ve seen all too well the tragic cost that gun violence has in our communities across the country. Today, we’re proposing some of the strongest measures in Canadian history to keep guns out of our communities and build a safer future for everyone.” The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

“We made a commitment to Canadians to tackle gun violence. The legislation we introduced today is part of our comprehensive strategy to promote safe and responsible gun laws, invest in law enforcement to stop organized crime and illegal gun smuggling at the border, and to invest in communities to address root causes and prevent gun crime from occurring in the first place. This legislation will help to reduce gun violence and keep Canadians safe.” The Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety

“Violent crime involving firearms has devastating impacts on communities across the country. This bill combines evidence-based policies and tougher Criminal Code penalties, among other measures, to better protect our communities. This includes people who are vulnerable to intimate partner violence and gender-based violence, and those who are at risk of hurting themselves. That is what we promised we would do, and that is what we are doing with this bill.” The Hon. David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Quick Facts

• To ensure the national freeze on handguns can be implemented swiftly, the Minister of Public Safety has already tabled regulatory amendments in both the House of Commons and the Senate. These regulations will help stop the growth of personally owned handguns in Canada and are expected to come into force in Fall 2022.
• In 2020, the Prime Minister announced the ban of over 1,500 models and variants of assault-style firearms. A buyback program will be introduced to offer fair compensation to affected owners and businesses.
• Going forward, we will also ensure military-style assault weapons are automatically prohibited when they enter the market. We will continue working to ensure any new weapons that fit the definition of assault-style weapon are captured.
• Earlier this year, the government announced an investment of $250 million through the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF) to help communities across the country prevent gun and gang violence by tackling its root causes, particularly for at-risk children.
• Budget 2021 provided more than $312 million in new funding to increase firearms tracing capacity and implement stronger border control measures to fight gun smuggling and trafficking. Law enforcement agencies seized more than double the number of firearms at the border in 2021, compared to 2020, which is also the highest number of firearms seized in recent years. 
• The number of registered handguns in Canada increased by 71 per cent between 2010 and 2020, reaching approximately 1.1 million. Handguns were the most serious weapon present in the majority of firearm-related violent crimes (59 per cent) between 2009 and 2020.
• In 2018, firearms were present in over 600 intimate partner violence incidents in Canada. Victims of intimate partner violence are approximately five times more likely to be killed when a firearm is present in the home.

Related Products

• A comprehensive strategy to address gun violence and strengthen gun laws in Canada: BILL C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms)

Associated Links

• Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms)
• Prime Minister announces ban on assault-style firearms
• Government takes action to prevent gun violence with $250 million Building Safer Communities Fund
• Homicide in Canada, 2020
• Trends in firearm-related violence crime in Canada, 2009 to 2020

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EXPLAINER: What Canadians needs to know about Trudeau's gun ban

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With the stroke of a pen in the spring of 2020, Justin Trudeau banned more than 1,500 types of legally-held firearms.

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EXPLAINER: What Canadians needs to know about Trudeau's gun ban Back to video

Trudeau’s Order-in-Council, which targeted what he called “military-style assault weapons” and their variants, will effectively remove thousands of firearms owned by law-abiding Canadians. There was no debate in the House of Commons — just a simple signature on a piece of paper.

And in the months since the ban took effect — there is an amnesty until April 2022, preventing anyone who owns any of the banned guns from being deemed non-compliant — additional firearms have been added to the list, increasing the number of newly-prohibited guns to roughly 1,800 types, including some shotguns and bolt-action hunting rifles.

That might seem logical to Canadians who advocate for more gun control in the hopes of curtailing gun violence, but most Canadians who don’t own firearms are uneducated about the process of being licensed to acquire firearms and what exactly those firearms are used for in this country.

That, combined with a mountain of misinformation and fudging of facts by Trudeau and Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, the former chief of the Toronto Police Service, have created confusion and anger among the gun-owning community of hunters and sport-shooters, which number in the millions.

“It’s a deliberate campaign to confuse the public,” Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights CEO Rod Giltaca said of the gun ban. “They are subject to a tsunami of misinformation.”

At the heart of Trudeau’s ban is the AR-15, a previously restricted sport-shooting firearm popular among range shooters in Canada, and the Ruger Mini-14, which was used in the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique shooting.

These are the “military-grade” guns Trudeau says are designed “for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time,” a fallacy that has been touted time and time again and name-dropped when discussing mass shootings in Sandy Hook, Las Vegas and Orlando. The problem with that logic is those tragic shootings happened in the United States, where firearms laws are drastically different than in Canada — and much looser, with some states allowing open (and concealed) carry of guns.

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Thousands of AR-15s and their many variants were owned legally by Canadians — upwards of 90,000, according to most experts — and none can be called “assault rifles,” based on the commonly accepted definition. Assault rifles, which have been banned in Canada since 1977, must be selective fire (fully automatic, meaning it can fire many rounds with one pull of the trigger; or semi-auto, which fires one round per trigger pull). And AR doesn’t stand for “assault rifle,” if you were wondering.

“Number one, the idea that these firearms are somehow inappropriate for civilian use is absurd,” said Giltaca, who helms one of the groups that have launched a court challenge to overturn the ban. “In the case of AR-15s, they’ve been used safely and responsibly, virtually without exception, since they were introduced to Canada in the 1970s. That’s one really important point.

“The AR-15 has been exclusively used for target shooting for the past 30-plus years. There is no problem with AR-15s in Canada.”

Fortunately, mass shootings in Canada are much rarer than in the U.S. and Giltaca says an AR-15 has never been used in one in this country.

A study by Statista.com shows 73% of mass shootings in the U.S from 1982-2021 were committed with a handgun, not the oft-vilified AR-15.

The Mini-14 was used in the Ecole Polytechnique shooting but Teresa Sourour said in the official coroner’s report released two years later that Marc Lepine “would probably have been able to achieve similar results even with a conventional hunting weapon.”

Gabriel Wortman, who was unlicensed to own firearms, was found to have used a Colt Law Enforcement Carbine (it looks similar to an AR-15) sourced to a California gun shop and smuggled into Canada during his rampage in Nova Scotia that killed 22 people less than a month before Trudeau’s OIC ban was announced.

“One of the most egregious things to be sacrificed in the whole OIC gun ban issue is the sacrifice of truth,” Giltaca said. “It’s just been one misleading statement after the other and a public relations campaign against licensed gun owners exclusively.”

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of gun control, there are indisputable facts.

THE ROUTE TO GUN OWNERSHIP

Anyone wanting to buy or possess a firearm, even a simple .22-calibre rifle, must be licensed by the RCMP.

“Firearms are dangerous devices, that’s why we license people that can purchase firearms and that’s why we have hundreds of regulations around the acquisition and use, and transfer, of firearms,” Giltaca said. “These are highly-regulated pieces of property.”

Here’s the process for being licensed to buy and use non-restricted (most common long guns) and restricted (all non-prohibited handguns and some rifles, like the AR-15):

• The first step to acquiring a PAL is to attend an RCMP-approved Canadian Firearms Safety Course open to anyone over the age of 12 and pass the written and practical exams (80% is considered a pass), which allows you to buy/possess non-restricted guns. To get a license that allows you to buy/use restricted firearms, a further safety course must be passed.
• If you pass the safety course, you will be sent paperwork by the instructor, which will then be forwarded with the licensing fee to the RCMP for approval. There is a mandatory 28-day waiting period — your application won’t even be looked at during that time — but the process can take much longer.
• If your license is approved after you have been fully vetted — it will be valid for five years — you may then buy firearms. If you’re licensed to buy non-restricted guns, you can take them with you right away; restricted firearms will be held by the owner (gun shop or other PAL holder) until the transfer is complete, which often takes weeks or months. Restricted firearms must have an Authorization to Transport (ATT), which is now attached to your license, and can only be used at approved shooting clubs or ranges.
• Anyone licensed to buy/own firearms is continually vetted by the Canadian Firearms Program to assess their eligibility to remain licensed. Any incident involving violence (offences specified in the Firearms Act) is reported and sent to the provincial Chief Firearms Officer to review. No other Canadians are assessed by law enforcement as frequently as PAL holders.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW

• Restricted firearms like AR-15s must be securely stored unloaded with a trigger lock or other locking device and stored in cabinet, container or room that is difficult to break into. To transport them, provided you have an ATT, they must be unloaded, locked with a trigger lock, locked in a non-transparent container and locked in the trunk of your vehicle. You must drive directly to the range/gun shop/gunsmith.
• The capacity of standard, legal magazines are five rounds for a centrefire semi-automatic rifle or shotgun and 10 rounds for a handgun. Larger capacity magazines must be pinned to five rounds, preventing more from being loaded. Over-capacity magazines is a misnomer since magazines can’t hold more cartridges than designed for. Possession of a magazine that holds more rounds than legally allowed is prohibited and punishable by up to five years in prison.
• Most magazines for .22-calibre rifles are unlimited because the round is of reduced power. Some legal magazines designed for rimfire .22 Long Rifle ammunition are built for 100 rounds.
• The Trudeau government has indicated it will institute a “buyback” program that will compensate gun owners financially for banned guns that are turned in but no details have been announced. Gun activists insist this will be cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and call the buyback a seizure.

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Letters to the editor, Sept. 19: ‘Funny how Justin Trudeau is blamed for high inflation, but not given credit for low inflation’

Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem participates in a news conference on the bank's interest rate announcement, in Ottawa, on Sept. 4. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Credit where …

Re “Inflation rate returns to Bank of Canada’s 2% target in August” (Report on Business, Sept. 18): Funny how Justin Trudeau is blamed for high inflation, but not given credit for low inflation.

Timothy Kwiatkowski London, Ont.

Pricing plan

Re “Price to pay” (Letters, Sept. 18): If “axe the tax” is the principal policy platform on which Pierre Poilievre is running, then the Liberals ought to pre-empt him by removing it as an “inflation relief measure” from at least gas-pump prices, and leave him to flounder.

Of course, the carbon reduction incentive is the most logical way to incentivize decarbonization but, of course, its necessary visibility also makes it ripe for populist plucking.

Pierre Mihok Ajax, Ont.

A letter-writer says: “We pay for carbon pricing. We get the equivalent rebate. No change in behaviour.” No.

The tax raises a price, and people generally buy less of a product when its price rises. The rebate depends on the amount of tax paid in total by everyone. We are each one of millions. How much we get as a rebate only depends infinitesimally on how much tax we individually pay.

So we would be wise to change our behaviour. If we do so, we can save money.

Jim Davies, professor emeritus, department of economics, Western University London, Ont.

Re “The housing sector needs a renovation” (Editorial, Sept. 16): During the 1970s, public agencies contributed in a large way to the provision of family and seniors housing in Nova Scotia. Far more housing was created on a per-capita basis than in any decade since.

This happened through federal, provincial and municipal co-operation in land banking and planning, the design and installation of streets and services and providing building sites at cost to independent builders. This all stopped abruptly in the early 1980s, only to leave the provision of housing sites to an unco-ordinated private sector which has, to a large extent, evolved into “housing as an investment.”

Don Williams, former chief architect, Nova Scotia Housing Commission Halifax

The enemy is us, the consumer.

My wife and I built a certified passive house. No one had ever built one in our municipality before. The planning department not only dealt with the paper work expeditiously, but asked if their planners and inspectors could tour the building during construction.

What made the price of this high-tech, net-zero house competitive is the design: a one-story, two-bedroom, three-bathroom home at 1,600 square feet. It is not a multistory, 3,000-sq.-ft, four-bedroom, four-bathroom home that takes years to build.

The 750,000 houses built in the 1970s were about half the size of those built in 2023, suggesting that productivity may in fact have doubled. The problem is consumer demand for excessive product, of a piece with SUVs for commuting and fast fashion for clothing.

The problem with price is the financialization of housing and the switch from buying a home to investing for profit.

Alan Ball New Westminster, B.C.

No one builds a 1,500-square-foot house like mine anymore. Should a 3,000-sq.-ft house count as two homes, and a 4,500-sq.-ft house count as three?

It seems that smaller families and childless couples need ever larger places to live. In my town, any small house sold is torn down for a gigantic replacement.

Suburban subdivisions often feature large buildings with double garages and tiny gardens. It takes more labour and materials to build these palaces and, of course, more time.

Are they “affordable?” No wonder we are falling behind.

Jim Reynolds Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

Not going to take it

Re “Why we don’t trust each other any more” (Sept. 13): When I read about a lack of respect, I am brought back to my youth.

I could work 40 hours a week at an entry-level job, which enabled me to afford rent in Vancouver (in the West End!) and have money left over. I was also kind to strangers, not because I respected anyone especially, but it was just the code.

Today, I am unable to afford a place to live unless I work 50 or more hours at the same sort of job. I have voted for parties that prop up regimes I have no interest in supporting (hello, BC Greens and the federal NDP).

I now realize that these problems are caused by people in my community. I don’t feel like being nice to them any more. They are destroying my way of life.

The only difference now is that the delusion I lived under has been wiped away.

Lee Handel Nanaimo, B.C.

Re “Russians at War screening at TIFF theatre draws protesters” (Sept. 18): According to credible reports from those who’ve actually viewed it, Russians at War propagates familiar falsehoods, Kremlin-calculated to undermine support for Ukraine. The film is also intended to arouse sympathy for the soldiers profiled, pawns of indifferent elites and the filmmaker alike.

The producers denounce the position of TVO, the Deputy Prime Minister and others when they should be denouncing the invasion of Ukraine. As a contribution to the wartime informational environment, Russians at War looks like a problematic, ill-conceived enterprise.

There will be better a time to view, debate and judge this film – after the war is lost and won.

Patrick Crowe Toronto

“ Russians at War is an exceptional documentary and needs to be seen” (Sept. 14): I believe columnist Marsha Lederman when she, having seen the film, concludes that “this documentary in no way glorifies Russians or its army or its war effort. This film in no way demonizes Ukraine or its people.”

Why the tiff over this film? One wonders if those who would ban films, books and art have actually exposed themselves to the works to which they’re objecting.

Unless one is Disney or Bambi, one can’t please everybody. Those who choose to should be able to see this film.

Anne Hansen Victoria

Two words leap to my mind after reading Marsha Lederman’s opinion: Thank you.

This is an unjust war. It should not end at the expense of the Ukrainian people’s sovereignty or security.

But we cannot (again) fall for the delusion that our enemies are monsters. This is what keeps us fighting and dying, be it in body or in soul.

No attempt to tell this complex, urgent truth should be forbidden from our consideration.

Simon Owen Victoria

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: [email protected]

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Did Justin Trudeau Stop Teaching at a Vancouver Private School Under the Cloud of a Sex Scandal?

Days before canada's 2019 federal election, rumors emerged about the future prime minister's 2001 departure from the west point grey academy., dan macguill, published oct. 9, 2019.

About this rating

In October 2019, we received multiple inquiries from readers about the veracity of reports that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was about to be embroiled in a major sex scandal involving his tenure as a teacher at the West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver between 1998 and 2001.

On Oct. 7, for example, the Buffalo Chronicle website published an article under the headline "Trudeau is Rumored to Be in Talks With an Accusor to Suppress an Explosive Sex Scandal," which reported that:

Less than two weeks ahead of federal elections that have already been looking conclusively grim for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, rumors of an explosive sex scandal are percolating at the highest echelons of Canada's media establishment. Ottawa's longest-tenured political observers had been expecting a career-ending expose in Saturday's edition of The Globe and Mail -- but that story never came. Sources are now telling The Chronicle that Trudeau is in private talks with the principal source of that piece to suppress explosive sex allegations that, if made public, would likely force Trudeau to resign his office. Trudeau's accuser is said to be a former student at West Point Grey Academy and the daughter of a wealthy Canadian businessman. Sources tell The Chronicle that she is being represented by counsel and is being offered monetary compensation in exchange for a pending, but not yet signed, non-disclosure agreement.

On Oct. 6, a Facebook page called "The Global Informer" posted a meme featuring a photograph of Trudeau along with the claim he "Ended teaching job due to having inappropriate relations with student":

On Sep. 30, the Canadian magazine Frank, which publishes a mixture of political satire, news and gossip, posted an article reporting a slightly different version of the rumor:

Another account has it that Trudeau left the [school] in a hail of bullets because he'd been getting a legover with a certain 'Gloria W.,' who also happened to be the mother of one of his students. When Gloria's husband took his sad tale of cuckoldry to school brass, Trudeau 'fessed up and resigned ...

As the website Canadaland reported , the evidence-free rumors of Trudeau's alleged sexual relations with either a student or a student's mother were accompanied by additional evidence-free rumors that the Liberal Party prime minister had attempted to cover up the story.

On Oct. 4, the Canadian columnist and political consultant Warren Kinsella tweeted out a photograph of Trudeau posing alongside several young women, an image that reportedly came from the 2000 edition of the West Point Grey Academy yearbook. Kinsella hinted that the next day's Globe and Mail newspaper might feature a related story about the Canadian prime minister, writing "I always encourage people to read the Toronto Sun. Naturally, but they might also want to read the Globe and Mail tomorrow. My Spidey sense is tingling":

I always encourage people to read @TheTorontoSun , Naturally,but they might also want to read the @globeandmail tomorrow too. My Spidey sense is tingling. #elxn43 #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/vLzMnHiB6a — Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 4, 2019

When no such story emerged on Oct. 5, some observers claimed this was evidence that Trudeau or his representatives had sought to suppress its publication, or that a non-disclosure agreement was hastily being arranged in order to silence the person with whom Trudeau was purported to have had a sexual relationship. Hence the Buffalo Chronicle's claim, quoted above, about the non-appearance of an expected Globe and Mail piece on the putative scandal.

Canadian political reporters were certainly looking into the West Point Grey Academy rumors in early October 2019, but as of Oct. 9 nothing had emerged publicly to substantiate those rumors.

In a press conference on Oct. 4, the Globe and Mail's Marieka Walsh invited Trudeau to address the allegations (without repeating them), and asked him why he had left his teaching post at the school. Trudeau responded: "I moved on, and I have great memories of an excellent time teaching in Vancouver in public and private schools."

Walsh later followed up by asking the prime minister whether he had signed a non-disclosure agreement about his departure from the school. Trudeau answered with an unequivocal "No." Walsh asked again why he had left the school, and Trudeau answered "Because I was moving on in my career":

Similarly, the headmaster of West Point Grey Academy at the time Trudeau worked there, Clive Austin, responded to multiple inquiries from reporters, writing in a statement that:

I can tell you with complete certainty that there is no truth to any speculation that he was dismissed ... [He] told me he had enjoyed his first few years of teaching, yet was considering a return to Montreal in a year or so to continue his university studies ... I wished Justin well, and with a smile, said I thought he'd one day find himself in politics at some level. As far as I was concerned we parted company on good terms.

Previously, Trudeau had said that he left the West Point Grey Academy in part due to a disagreement with administrators over school policies, and in particular after an episode involving the student newspaper, of which he was the staff moderator. In his 2014 memoir "Common Ground," Trudeau wrote of the subject that:

Sometimes my teaching methods put me at odds with the conservative West Point Grey administrators. The most significant event concerned a student I'll call Wayne, who regularly defied the school's dress code by wearing his tie loose and dangling a chain from his belt. He was a smart, confident kid who chose to adopt a rebel pose. One day, after receiving the umpteenth dressing-down about his attire, Wayne said to me, "It's not fair. I'm always being called out for my appearance, but the same rules say that the girls' kilts are supposed to be no more than an inch above their knee. They flout that rule and get away with it. It's a double standard." I was in charge of the in-house student newspaper, a task I undertook with the clear intention to turn it into something kids actually wanted to read, not just a glossy feel-good pamphlet for proud parents. I suggested to Wayne that he write an article on the unfair double standard he had grumbled about. He did, and his article reasonably theorized that perhaps the predominantly male teachers felt uncomfortable pointing out to teenaged female students that their skirts were way too short. It was the sort of thing that everyone knew but no one admitted, until Wayne mentioned it. When Wayne's article appeared in the school paper, the administration didn't react as well as they could have, in my opinion. They not only disciplined Wayne for lacking respect but also discontinued the student newspaper, which convinced me that West Point Grey was not the best fit for me as a teacher, nor I for them. Shortly after, I took a teaching position in the Vancouver public school system.

No publicly available evidence supports any claim that Trudeau had a sexual relationship with either a student or a student's mother while he was a teacher at West Point Grey Academy between 1998 and 2001, nor that such an episode contributed to his departure from the school's teaching staff.

The reports and social media posts which made that claim either did not cite any sources or cited only anonymous and unspecified sources. Furthermore, Trudeau has given plausible explanations for his departure which do not involve any sex scandal, namely that he was disillusioned with school administrators' conservative approach to certain policies and that he simply wanted to move on in his career -- two different but not contradictory reasons.

That Trudeau's departure from the school had nothing to do with any sex scandal was corroborated by a statement issued in October 2019 by the school's principal during the period in question.

Furthermore, no publicly available evidence supports the claim that Trudeau or his representatives have endeavored to suppress or cover up the supposed sex scandal. The fact that in October 2019, Canadian reporters made public their investigations and inquiries into the rumors actually undermines the credibility of the claims, since no reporting has yet emerged which would corroborate the allegations against Trudeau.

The "sex scandal" claims appear to be no more than gossip and unsubstantiated rumor, published only two weeks before Canada's 2019 federal election, but we cannot definitively dismiss this particular set of allegations against Trudeau. Because the claims have been so vague and lacking in factual specifics (no names, dates, places, or firsthand accounts have been published) it has not yet been possible to test their credibility and therefore not possible to either corroborate or refute them. If that changes, we will update this fact check accordingly.

We submitted questions to both the Canadian Liberal Party and the Office of Prime Minister Trudeau. The Office of the Prime Minister directed us to put our questions to the Liberal Party, from whom we did not receive a response.

The Buffalo Chronicle .   "Trudeau is Rumored to Be in Talks With an Accusor to Suppress an Explosive Sex Scandal."     7 October 2019.

Frank Magazine .   "Justin, You Old Dog!"     30 September 2019.

Ling, Justin.   "Rumours of a Suppressed Globe Story About Justin Trudeau Are Bullshit."     Canadaland .   8 October 2019.

Malcolm, Candice.   "Trudeau's Yearbook Tells a Bigger Story."     Toronto Sun .   30 September 2019.

Trudeau, Justin.   Common Ground .     HarperCollins , 2014.   ISBN 9780062376701.

By Dan MacGuill

Dan Mac Guill is a former writer for Snopes.

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Trudeau loses another Liberal stronghold in Bloc Québécois byelection victory

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has suffered another devastating byelection blow with the loss of a second Liberal stronghold, this one to the Bloc Québécois in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun.

Voters went to the polls Monday in the Montreal riding as well as in Winnipeg's Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP retained its long-held seat after a tough race against the Conservatives.

Trudeau already faced calls from party faithful to resign as leader after unexpectedly losing Toronto—St. Paul’s to the Conservatives in a byelection this past June.

Longtime Liberal supporter and strategist Andrew Perez called this new loss "yet another nail in Justin Trudeau’s coffin."

While byelections aren't usually credited with much significance on Parliament Hill, the votes in Winnipeg and Montreal were viewed as bellwethers of the political shifts happening in Canada.

"If Trudeau’s Liberals can’t hold this safe seat, it will spell even bigger trouble for the party’s prospects in Quebec and across Canada in a critical election year," Perez said in a statement before the final vote.

Bloc Québécois supporters in Montreal shouted and jumped up and down so hard the floor shook at news of their victory, some with Quebec flags draped around their shoulders.

The Bloc was locked in a tight three-way race with the Liberals and the NDP right up until the final poll was reported.

"We are here and we work hard because we believe in the interests of Quebec and we believe in independence," the Bloc candidate Louis-Philippe Sauvé said before the final votes were counted.

Elections Canada reported all 187 polls early Tuesday, showing the Bloc won the seat just 248 votes ahead of the Liberals.

The Montreal seat opened up when former justice minister David Lametti left politics.

Liberal ministers visited the area several times as the party worked hard to keep the riding it has held for decades.

The Bloc's deputy House leader Christine Normandin said no one would have expected the Bloc to do well in the longtime Liberal stronghold at the start of the campaign.

"Any way the campaign would have gone, we could only win, we had nothing to lose," she said before the results were in.

"Seeing tonight that it is a tight race, in itself for us, it’s a win. And it shows that there is support for what the Bloc does and the issues that we’re bringing to the House of Commons."

The NDP also took heart from the tight race. The New Democrats are not usually a contender in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but their candidate, Craig Sauvé, jockeyed back and forth for first place with the Liberals and Bloc all night.

"If the NDP is competitive in Montreal we're going to win seats in Montreal, we're going to have great candidates in Montreal, and Montrealers are going to see more NDP MPs at the next election," Sauvé told his supporters earlier in the night.

Montrealer Graham Juneau said that despite all the campaigning, he and many of his friends are "relatively disengaged."

He opted to vote for no one, to make a point about “a lack of confidence in the political establishment in Canada."

"At least amongst my peers, there hasn’t been a groundswell of enthusiasm for any of the particular parties," he said.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is keen to leapfrog the Liberals and position himself as the only viable, progressive alternative to Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives.

He and his candidate, Leila Dance, managed to fend off the Conservatives' aggressive campaign in Winnipeg.

Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditional NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.

The NDP won the night with 48.1 per cent of the vote. But Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds managed to grow the Tories' share of the vote from 28 per cent in the 2021 general election to 44 per cent in Monday's byelection.

With several polls still to be counted, Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.

Singh took a political gamble on signing a pact with Trudeau in 2022 to prevent an early election in exchange for progress on NDP priorities.

While that deal has yielded a national dental care program, legislation to ban replacement workers and a bill that would underpin a future pharmacare program, the results haven't translated to gains in the national polls.

Singh pulled out of that deal just weeks ago in a bid to distance his party from the Liberals and try to make the next election a two-way race between himself and Poilievre.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

Laura Osman, Maura Forrest, Steve Lambert and Michel Saba, The Canadian Press

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Justin Trudeau

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Introduction

(born 1971). As leader of the Liberal Party, Justin Trudeau became prime minister of Canada in 2015. He led the Liberals back to power after a decade of Conservative Party rule.

Early Life and Start in Politics

Justin Pierre James Trudeau was born on December 25, 1971, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He was the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau , who was Canada’s prime minister at the time of Justin’s birth. Justin’s mother, Margaret, was the daughter of Canadian politician James Sinclair. After the Trudeaus divorced when Justin was six, he and his two brothers were raised by their father.

Trudeau earned a bachelor’s degree in English from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, in 1994. He received a degree in education from the University of British Columbia in 1998. Thereafter he taught high-school French and elementary-school math in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2000, at age 28, he delivered a moving eulogy at his father’s funeral that thrust him into the national spotlight.

After returning to Quebec in 2002, Trudeau began and then abandoned engineering studies at the University of Montreal. He also pursued but did not complete a master’s degree in environmental geography at McGill. In the meantime, he worked at a Montreal radio station and had a role in the television miniseries The Great War (2007). He also was an unpaid spokesman for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. From 2002 to 2006 Trudeau served as chairman of the board of directors of Katimavik, the national youth volunteer organization established by his father in 1977.

In 2002, soon after Trudeau delivered his father’s eulogy, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien offered him a place in the Liberal Party. Trudeau won a seat in Parliament in 2008 and was reelected in 2011, even as the Liberals as a whole were badly defeated. Youthful and charismatic, he was seen by many as the Liberals’ best hope to lead them back to prominence. In 2013 he won the party leadership, capturing nearly 80 percent of the vote.

Prime Ministership

During the 2015 federal election campaign, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper sought to portray Trudeau as ill-prepared to lead the country. The campaign began as a close three-way race that was initially led by the New Democratic Party (NDP). As the NDP faded, the race became a contest between the Conservatives and the Liberals. Trudeau ran a strong campaign and performed well in the debates, helping the Liberals to surge ahead in opinion polls in the final weeks of the campaign. In the October 2015 election the Liberals won a decisive victory, capturing 39.5 percent of the vote and 184 seats in Parliament. The Conservatives won about 32 percent of the vote, and the NDP about 20 percent. The Liberals formed a majority government with Trudeau as prime minister.

Trudeau’s campaign had championed a number of progressive causes. Claiming that Conservative policies had unfairly benefited the wealthy, he promised to create new jobs and boost the economy for middle-class Canadians. He vowed to encourage diversity and inclusion and to improve the government’s relationship with Canada’s indigenous peoples ( First Nations , Inuit , and Métis). He also pledged to take action to fight climate change . Upon taking office, Trudeau, a self-proclaimed feminist , followed up on one of his promises by appointing 15 women to his 30-member cabinet. He proposed billions of dollars in new funding for programs to assist indigenous communities in such areas as education, health, and infrastructure. His government also promoted inclusion by welcoming tens of thousands of refugees fleeing civil war in Syria . In late 2016 Trudeau took a step to combat climate change by announcing that Canada was declaring a five-year ban on oil drilling in its Arctic waters.

Trudeau’s critics, however, argued that his policies did not always live up to his promises. Some environmentalists , for example, questioned Trudeau’s commitment to fighting climate change. They were troubled by his support of massive energy projects that would encourage the use of fossil fuels , such as the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline between Canada and the United States. Some indigenous Canadians objected to the pipeline and other energy projects because they would violate indigenous land rights. Indigenous peoples also criticized Trudeau’s government for not providing all of the funds that had been promised to their communities.

In foreign affairs, Trudeau notably clashed with U.S. President Donald Trump , who entered office in early 2017. Tensions between Canada and the United States escalated in 2018 after Trump announced a plan to impose tariffs on imports of Canadian steel and aluminum. That action threatened to start a trade war. In response, Trudeau indicated that, if necessary, Canada would reluctantly impose counter-tariffs on the United States. He added that Canadians are “polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.” On Twitter , Trump accused Trudeau of having made false statements and characterized him as “dishonest & weak.” In the aftermath of the diplomatic dustup, the House of Commons unanimously passed a motion condemning Trump’s personal attacks on Trudeau. Trudeau later joined Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in signing a proposed new trade accord, known as the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement. The proposed accord was intended to replace the 1992 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The United States subsequently lifted its tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada in May 2019.

Also in 2019 Trudeau faced a major political crisis. Allegations surfaced that Trudeau aides had improperly pressed attorney general and justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to abandon the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, a giant Quebec-based construction company. In 2015 the firm had been charged with corruption and fraud stemming from allegations that it had used bribery to win contracts from the Libyan government. In January 2019 Wilson-Raybould was reassigned as veterans affairs minister in a cabinet reshuffle. She resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet the following month. Days later she told the House of Commons justice committee that there had been a “consistent and sustained effort” to pressure her to intervene in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. She also testified that she had received “veiled threats” relating to the matter from the offices of the prime minister, Privy Council, and finance minister.

In August a report issued by Canadian Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found that Trudeau and his staff had indeed attempted to unduly influence Wilson-Raybould in the SNC-Lavalin case. Responding to the report, Trudeau said “I take responsibility for the mistakes I have made.” He claimed, however, that his actions had been intended to prevent the loss of Canadian jobs that he said would result from legal action against SNC-Lavalin. Dion’s report threatened Trudeau and the Liberal Party’s prospects in the federal election scheduled to be held on October 21. Before that election took place, Trudeau’s reputation suffered another hit after photos emerged showing him wearing “blackface” and “brownface” makeup at several events in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trudeau repeatedly apologized for the images, saying, “It was something that I didn’t think was racist at the time, but now I recognize it was something racist to do, and I am deeply sorry.” Trudeau’s political opponents sharply criticized him over the images and accused him of lacking judgment and integrity.

In the October 2019 election the Liberal Party lost its majority in Parliament but won enough seats to form a minority government and secure a second term for Trudeau as prime minister. The Conservatives claimed 121 seats in Parliament, second to the Liberal Party’s 157, though the Conservatives narrowly edged out the Liberal Party in the popular vote. The Bloc Québécois and NDP trailed distantly, capturing 32 and 24 seats, respectively. Despite the Liberal Party’s loss of its parliamentary majority, Trudeau thanked voters for handing him a second term and vowed that his minority government would “work hard for all Canadians.”

In early 2020 the COVID-19   pandemic  began to affect Canada. The virus hit home for Trudeau when he was forced to go into brief self-isolation in March after his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, contracted COVID-19. She soon recovered from the illness. Although the federal government was slow to stress mask-wearing and social-distancing measures, it did enact significant restrictions on travelers entering the country. It also sought to limit the economic consequences of the pandemic. It did so in part by providing monthly payments to individuals who had lost their jobs as a result of the lockdown undertaken to stem the spread of the virus.

The first wave of the pandemic began to recede in Canada during the summer of 2020. A second wave of COVID-19 cases peaked in January 2021. The Trudeau government’s rollout of its COVID-19 vaccination program got off to a slow start. Nevertheless, by mid-July about 49 percent of Canadians were fully vaccinated, and some 70 percent had received at least one dose, thus surpassing vaccination rates in the United States. With the number of reported cases and deaths from COVID-19-related causes on the decline in Canada, public opinion polling indicated widespread approval of Trudeau’s handling of the public health crisis.

Hoping to capitalize on the favorable poll ratings, Trudeau announced on August 15 that he was calling an early federal election. Among other campaign pledges, Trudeau and the Liberals promised the creation of a comprehensive child-care program and an aggressive plan to tackle climate change. Trudeau’s principal rival was Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, who staked out a position as a moderate. O’Toole and other opposition candidates accused Trudeau of endangering the lives of Canadians by holding a snap election at a time when a new variant of the coronavirus that caused COVID-19, the so-called Delta variant, was sweeping the country. Meanwhile, Trudeau attacked O’Toole for his advocacy of a voluntary response to the virus based on frequent testing rather than vaccination.

The election was held on September 20. Relatively early on election night, the media was able to project that the Liberals would fall short of a majority in Parliament. Once again, however, the Liberals were poised to form a minority government with Trudeau as prime minister.

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Polls close for closely watched byelections in Montreal and Winnipeg

The NDP has a slight early lead in Winnipeg while remaining in a three-way race with the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois in Montreal as ballots continue to be counted in two crucial federal byelections.

Laura Palestini, the Liberal candidate in the party's Montreal stronghold of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, gave a speech thanking her volunteers just a little over an hour after the polls closed and early results showed her trailing in third spot.

The NDP are so far also holding on to their own seat in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood — Transcona. The first 7,210 ballots reported by Elections Canada show 48.1per cent of votes have gone to the NDP and 43.8 per cent to the Conservatives, with the vast majority of votes yet to be counted.

While byelections aren't usually credited with much significance on Parliament Hill, the votes in Winnipeg and Montreal are being treated as bellwethers of the political shifts happening in Canada.

The Elmwood — Transcona seat has been vacant since the NDP's Daniel Blaikie left federal politics.

The New Democrats are hoping to hold onto the riding and polls suggest the Conservatives are in the running.

LaSalle—Émard—Verdun opened up when former justice minister David Lametti left politics.

Polls suggested the race was tight between the Liberal candidate and the Bloc Québécois, but the NDP were hopeful it could win.

Palestini thanked her volunteers as the results rolled in Monday night.

"Thanks to your efforts, our message resonated," she said in French at a Liberal gathering in Dilallo Burger, a Ville-Émard institution dating back to 1929.

"Perhaps tomorrow morning, early, we will hear what the people of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun want as their member of parliament."

She departed shortly after.

Meanwhile at the NDP headquarters, cries of joy erupted as the first poll results were showed.

Montrealer Graham Juneau said that despite all the campaigning, he and many of his friends are "relatively disengaged."

He opted to vote for no one, to make a point about “a lack of confidence in the political establishment in Canada."

"At least amongst my peers, there hasn’t been a groundswell of enthusiasm for any of the particular parties," he said.

Liberal ministers have visited the area several times as the party worked hard to keep the riding it has held for decades.

Ahead of the results, Liam Olsen, a volunteer with the Young Liberals of Canada, said he was feeling optimistic.

He had travelled to Montreal from Ottawa to knock on doors on byelection day.

"It's going to be a close one," he said.

"Unpredictable things can happen. But definitely good vibes at the doors today."

Outside the headquarters of the Bloc Québécois in Verdun, volunteer Sarah Plante, 21, said she was feeling similarly confident.

A Bloc victory in Montreal would prove that the Bloc has a place in Montreal and would send a "strong message" to the federal government that the party represents the interests of all Quebecers, she said.

The stakes are particularly high for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who faced calls for his resignation last June when the Conservatives took over a Liberal stronghold seat in a Toronto byelection.

The loss sent shock waves through the governing party, as the Liberals were faced with the stark reality of their plummeting poll numbers.

C.B. Singh, an 85-year-old Montrealer who has been volunteering for the Liberals since Pierre Elliott Trudeau was prime minister, said he still supports Justin Trudeau.

"I know his father, so I'm for him," he said. "He is still popular among the immigrants."

Some strategists have suggested that Jagmeet Singh's leadership could come under similar scrutiny if the NDP fails to hold onto the Winnipeg seat.

As early results rolled in there were cheers from supporters in the NDP camp in Winnipeg.

Singh took a political gamble on signing a pact with Trudeau in 2022 to prevent an early election in exchange for progress on NDP priorities.

While that deal has yielded a national dental care program, legislation to ban replacement workers and a bill that would underpin a future pharmacare program, the results haven't translated to gains in the polls.

Singh pulled out of that deal just weeks ago in a bid to distance his party from the Liberals and try to make the next election a two-way race between himself and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

The Conservatives have made an aggressive play for the riding by appealing to traditional NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.

"Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau are the same person," Poilievre said in a social media video posted Sunday ahead of Monday's vote.

A vote for the Conservative candidate in Elmwood — Transcona is a vote to "fire Justin Trudeau and axe the tax," he said.

Elections Canada warned on social media Monday evening that the results in the Montreal riding could take longer than usual to be counted because of the record number of candidates.

There are 91 names on the ballot, making it the longest list in the history of federal elections. Most are affiliated with a group protesting Canada’s first-past-the-post voting system.

"Results will be available tonight or early tomorrow. Thank you for your patience," Elections Canada said on X Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024. 

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Stay Connected

Trudeau won't comment on future of TikTok in U.S., says Canadian safety a priority

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Social sharing.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he's not going to comment on the future of TikTok in the United States but his own government will continue to look out for Canadians' security.

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would force TikTok's parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, to sell the social media app within the year or face an American ban.

Trudeau asked about potential U.S. TikTok ban

The proposed ban was slipped into a multi-billion dollar aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Trudeau says that when it comes to TikTok, the security, privacy and data protection of Canadians needs to come first.

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok last September and the app has been banned from federal government devices.

Western governments have suggested that the popular platform could put sensitive data in the hands of China's government or be used as a misinformation tool.

• Will a wildly popular app become a casualty of the new cold war between China and the U.S.?
• 'Ground is shifting' for social media giants, says federal justice minister pushing Online Harms Act