Justin Trudeau, Canada's new leader, gestures on stage at the Liberal party headquarters in Montreal, on Oct. 20.(Photo: Canadian Press, AP)
Once again, a <span style="color: Red;">*</span>charismatic Trudeau is back in charge of Canada.
Justin Trudeau, the 43-year-old son of long-serving Prime Minister<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Pierre<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trudeau, led his Liberal Party to a sweeping victory over the Conservatives in Monday's election to claim the office his father held for a record number of years.
The elder Trudeau dated celebrities and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was compared to John F. Kennedy when he took office in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>1968. Now his son has created similar buzz as a youthful and eloquent leader.
In fact, his Conservative Party rival, incumbent<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Stephen Harper, had<span style="color: Red;">*</span>run ads portraying the younger Trudeau as an empty suit with good hair and a celebrity's personality.
Yet, Justin Trudeau has promised more than superficial change. He has called for tax cuts for the middle class, tax increases on the rich and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>deficit spending on infrastructure and welfare to spur Canada's sluggish economy. He also favors<span style="color: Red;">*</span>legalization of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>marijuana "right away,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>an increase in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>refugees accepted in Canada, better ties with the United States<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and more<span style="color: Red;">*</span>support for women's rights.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"I am a feminist. I’m proud to be a feminist," Trudeau wrote on Twitter late<span style="color: Red;">*</span>last month.
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Trudeau was born in Ottawa to two political families<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— his grandfather on his mother's side was a Canadian cabinet minister. Despite the political pedigree, he took awhile to follow in his father's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>footsteps. He worked as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a teacher, actor, environmental activist, engineer and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>even a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>bungee-jumping coach.
He graduated from Montreal's McGill University in 1994 and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>married Sophie Grégoire, a model and former television personality. They have three young children.
In 2000, he delivered a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>moving<span style="color: Red;">*</span>eulogy at his father's state funeral that proved to be<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the defining moment leading to his<span style="color: Red;">*</span>political career.
“More than anything, to me, he was dad. And what a dad. He loved us with the passion and the devotion that encompassed his life. He taught us to believe in ourselves, to stand up for ourselves, to know ourselves and to accept responsibility for ourselves," Trudeau said in his eulogy.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“We knew we were the luckiest kids in the world. And we had done nothing to actually deserve it.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It was instead something that we would have to spend the rest of our lives to work very hard to live up to.”
His political career began in 2007<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"in a parking lot.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A grocery store parking lot, to be precise, directly across the street from a shawarma restaurant and a barbershop,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in a statement on his party's website.
He became a member of parliament in 2008, and by 2013, Trudeau<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was leader of the Liberal Party, which he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>moved to the left as part of a plan to end nearly 10 years of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Conservative<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rule.
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