It’s Trudeau-ver: U of T community weighs in on Prime Minister’s exit

On March 14, Mark Carney was sworn in as the 24th prime minister (PM) of Canada following Justin Trudeau’s resignation on January 6. 

After facing an increasing lack of confidence from members of his own Liberal Party — including Chrystia Freeland, who resigned as Deputy Prime Minister last year — Trudeau suspended Parliament until March 24 to allow the party to select a new leader instead of facing a vote of non-confidence. 

Trudeau was elected in 2015 with a majority government, but his popularity steadily declined over his three terms. During his term, he faced the COVID-19 pandemic, political scandals, and economic downturn. Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre criticized Trudeau for his management of the economy, with Freeland expressing similar criticisms in her resignation letter. 

The Varsity spoke with students and faculty on the legacy of Trudeau’s time as PM and what lies ahead for Canada. 

Progressive promises 

Kaelem Moniz — a third-year UTSG student studying international relations and public policy — reflected on Trudeau’s early moments in office. 

“As soon as he got elected, he promised that this would be a new era of government transparency [and] social progress,” he said. “From the beginning, he had a gender parity [in his] cabinet… he legislated a feminist foreign policy immediately upon entering office, which [was] very rare for countries in the world to have that [when he took office].” 

Jonathan Keats — a fourth-year double major in criminology and political science at UTSG — expressed skepticism about Trudeau’s progressive platform, calling it “performative.” 

“He had a 50-50 split cabinet between men and women, but then when the SNC-Lavalin affair happened, he put pressure on [former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould] and then pushed her out when she [wasn’t] convenient for him,” said Keats. “It makes his initial pledges and his attempts to seem progressive feel very hollow.” 

SNC-Lavalin, which recently changed its name to AtkinsRéalis, is a Canadian engineering and construction firm based in Montréal that faced charges of fraud and corruption in connection with nearly $48 million in payments made to Libyan government officials between 2001 and 2011. The scandal led to multiple resignations within Trudeau’s cabinet in 2019. 

In his comment, Keats referred to Trudeau having tried to pressure former Attorney General Wilson-Raybould to resolve the corruption and fraud case against SNC-Lavalin to avoid a criminal case. However, she refused and later resigned from the cabinet without explanation.

UTM political science Associate Professor Christopher Greenaway discussed Trudeau’s socially progressive platforms.

“It’s easy to forget that [he] wasn’t always this unpopular,” he said, reflecting on Trudeau’s efforts early into his term. Greenaway mentioned Trudeau’s initiatives like cancelling oil pipeline projects due to environmental concerns, his reconciliation projects with the Indigenous communities, and forming a gender-balanced cabinet. All these were generally met with praise at first. 

Cost of living crisis

One of the defining issues of the Trudeau administration was the cost of living crisis in Canada. In October 2024, new condo sales were down by over 50 per cent, indicative of Canada’s worsening housing crisis and leading to growing pressure for Trudeau to step down.

“I don’t believe it’s necessarily fair to attribute the economic crisis to his policy. We’re seeing this across the world, particularly in OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] G7 countries,” said Moniz. The OECD is an international organization that analyzes and identifies best practices in public policy.

However, the household debt in Canada is currently the highest of any G7 country. 

“We also have to keep in mind that the Trudeau government faced a completely unprecedented situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. No government knew what they were getting into… That was not a uniquely Trudeau situation. We’re basically seeing an anti-incumbency wave throughout the world,” he added. 

Moniz also noted what he considers some economic successes of the outgoing government. He cited a 2017 trade agreement with the European Union, the 2018 Canada-US-Mexico Agreement, and recent trade agreements with newer partner countries like Indonesia. “These are ways in which the Trudeau government has found success in broadening [Canada’s] reach,” he said. 

On the other hand, Sandro Galati — a fourth-year student at St. Michael’s College, studying ethics, society and law and political science — expressed that “people hesitate to place the blame at [Trudeau’s] feet” due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. 

However, Galati believed that there were things within Trudeau’s control that he should have done to mitigate the cost of living crisis, such as allowing fewer immigrants into Canada.

“When the demand exceeds the supply, we’re not building more houses, but we have more people and now housing prices have skyrocketed,” said Galati. “And we know it went wrong because he said it went wrong, that’s why he’s reducing immigration numbers now.”

In January 2024, the federal government announced a two-year cap on international student study permits, with tighter restrictions announced in September 2024. The aim was to target “bad actors who pose a threat to the system” by exploiting international students.

According to Greenaway, the mismanagement of the international student immigration system does not stem specifically from Trudeau’s policies. Greenaway acknowledged the well-documented issue of individuals using the Canadian education system to expedite the immigration process. However, institutions themselves may be complicit in the issue. 

“Many schools, their bottom line [and] their business model is completely dependent on international [student] money, so that is definitely a more systemic issue,” he explained. “I don’t think it’s something that just miraculously began in 2015 or [that] is miraculously going to disappear in 2025.” 

Galati also mentioned, “Unlike almost any other country in the world, Canada has the unique ability to produce its own energy, and when you have cheap energy, that percolates through the entire economy [and] makes other things cheaper.” 

While Trudeau cancelled the proposed local Northern Gateway pipeline — which planned to stretch through British Columbia and Alberta — former US President Joe Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried oil from Canada to the US. Cancelling pipelines impacts the availability and cost of oil transportation, which can, in turn, affect energy costs. 

Canada’s climate policy, including the Trudeau government’s carbon tax, has seen much criticism from both the Liberal and Conservative Party leader candidates’ platforms. Immediately after taking office, Carney cut the carbon tax rate to zero. 

Moniz reflected on the dilemma of Canada’s fossil fuel industry. “This is something that has contributed undoubtedly to climate change,” said Moniz, but added that it also “gives us security to face these 25 per cent tariffs [proposed by US President Donald Trump].” 

Federal election candidates 

Students and professors also shared their thoughts on the candidates for the 2025 Canadian federal election, with Carney expected to call an election before March 24. 

“I think that [Poilievre] has been caught a little bit flat-footed regarding the Trump tariff, because he has now lost the two things that he was hoping to run an election on: Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax,” said Moniz. He also praised recently elected Carney as “tremendously experienced,” highlighting Carney’s tenure managing both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. 

Galati expressed that he believes that Carney wouldn’t be a very different leader from Trudeau, seeing as Carney was an advisor for Trudeau’s economic and energy policies. “I can’t get excited about him,” he said. 

Keats expressed some apprehension about Poilievre. “Though he denies being a populist, some of his rhetoric and appeal, I think, does skew a little populist. He also tends to sometimes — as I think a lot of politicians do — say one thing to one crowd and another thing to another crowd,” he said. 

As for NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, Greenaway noted that his struggle is his association with Trudeau after supporting his government over the past several years. Additionally, the NDP has lost momentum in key provinces such as Québec, which hasn’t experienced an ‘orange wave’ since Jack Layton led the party to become the official opposition party in 2011. 

“Ultimately, I don’t think the strategy should change too much depending on whether it’s Carney or Poilievre,” said Greenaway. “The main task will be how to make Canada resilient. [It’s] less about negotiation, but being able to envision a world [where] Canada can no longer rely on the safe trading partner of the US and dealing with Trump is unpredictable.”