Opinion

Trudeau’s brutal legacy is failure to match soaring ambitions

After almost a decade at the top, his tenure will be remembered for poorly managing national decline and overseeing a lost decade.

Geoff RussFormer Canadian journalist

Jan 7, 2025 – 8.02am

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Justin Trudeau is departing as Canada’s prime minister, leaving behind a legacy of soaring ambition and brutal failure.

On Monday morning (Tuesday AEDT), Trudeau announced he would resign after asking the governor-general to prorogue parliament so that his Liberal Party could hold a leadership race. This follows a Christmas season that delivered a brutal mini-budget, disastrous polling for his government, and a knifing from his once-loyal finance minister.

Geoff Russ is a policy manager in the Canadian resource sector in Vancouver and a former political reporter.