Biography of the Prime Minister | “Prince” Trudeau under the microscope

He is more the prince of a small political dynasty than the prince of Machiavelli that the journalist and author Stephen Maher portrays in the biography he devotes to Justin Trudeau and his political life. Here, in no particular order of importance, are some highlights of the work, which is currently only available in English.

A blueface and not a blackface ?

“Actually, the makeup was blue. » The black and white photo of Justin Trudeau dressed as Aladdin, his face and hands painted, went around the world and jeopardized his re-election in 2019. A few months earlier, when a scandal of blackface had erupted in the United States, the Prime Minister had confided to his two close advisers, Gerald Butts and Katie Telford, that he had painted his face black in his youth. It was decided not to disclose it proactively. But in this photo taken during a gala whose theme was THE thousand and one Night, were his face and hands blue? A liberal source confirms the book’s version, noting that if it was decided not to dwell on this fact, it is because it was known that other photos of Justin Trudeau in blackface were going to surface.

“I think he’s a narcissist”

The 347-page biography is based on interviews with about 200 people, some of whom declined to be named. This is the case of three former ministers of Justin Trudeau, who have very harsh words for their former boss. “I think he’s a narcissist. I think he sincerely believes that Canada needs him and that he has done great things to save Canada,” one of them said on condition of anonymity. A close friend of Justin Trudeau does not object to this characterization. “Do you know a prime minister who wasn’t a narcissist? I mean, how do you win? How do you come to the conclusion that you should be prime minister? “, he argued to the author.

The desire to throw in the towel

The election of Stephen Harper’s majority government made Justin Trudeau want to put his political career behind him, or even go into exile, says his long-time friend Gerald Butts: “In the summer of 2011, he was thinking of leaving the politics, and he went on a surfing vacation to Ucluelet. » When New Democratic leader Jack Layton died in August 2011, Justin Trudeau was in this small outdoor town in British Columbia. “It changed everything,” writes Stephen Maher, who was a parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa for 15 years. “Everyone said: ‘OK, we tried it with two brilliant intellectuals, Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff, let’s go with the young person who has a famous name, who we don’t know how intelligent he is’” , recalled Justin Trudeau in an interview with the author.

The electoral campaign too many

“Justin Trudeau could have saved his marriage if he had decided to leave office in 2023 and let someone else take on Pierre Poilievre, but he didn’t want to do that. His friends say he put the country ahead of his marriage,” writes Stephen Maher. Thus, while he was planning a ministerial reshuffle, in July 2023, the Prime Minister negotiated a separation agreement with Sophie Grégoire. “Given the political advantage, for Justin Trudeau, of maintaining a facade marriage, the decision to break up seems to have been his,” supposes the author, arguing that the veneer had started to crack for some time.

The trip to the Aga Khan

His three closest collaborators had strongly advised him against it. It was a bad idea. But “there was no one to stop Justin Trudeau from making this damn trip,” testifies a source in the book. At his office, we tried to convince him to announce in advance this trip to the private island of the wealthy Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, in 2016. We know the rest: the prime minister has nothing wanted to hear, and he was severely reprimanded by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.

The Prince – The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau

Stephen Maher

Simon & Schuster