Justin Trudeau’s legacy: Real social progress, political imperfection, downfall by disinformation

Watching Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deliver his announcement that he was stepping down as Liberal leader and staying on as PM until a new leader is chosen in front of Rideau Cottage on a blustery winter day gave me intense flashbacks of covering his almost-daily COVID-19 updates back in the thick of the pandemic. 

For a prime minister who’s often easily prone to emotion and flowery language, his announcement was measured, controlled and brief. Watching it, I felt a mix of sadness, disappointment, frustration, even anger, and solid apprehension for the unknown.

From ‘Sunny Ways’ to ‘Get Out of the Way’

When Trudeau said this week that it’s time “for a reset” and for “the temperature to go down,” by removing himself from the equation he accurately pointed to the vitriol that he’s — often inexplicably — been on the receiving end of. It came not only from Canadians concerned about the future, but mostly from those who have long been fed a steady diet of disinformation, whose many grievances often stem from suspicion of science and a constantly changing world they can’t keep up with. Online foreign interference and rampant populism have created groups who have sadly made hating Trudeau their entire personality. 

The “F*ck Trudeau” crowd certainly won’t see anything redeeming about his administration, and it’s personally hard to take people who call this government “tyrannical” and Trudeau a “dictator” seriously. But let’s forget the “Freedom Rally” truckers, the anti-vaxxers and the conspiracy theory folks for a minute.

What about the majority of Canadians simply wanting a different government? Because poll after poll clearly indicates that the Liberals are cooked.

Let’s face it. A decade is a long time in politics, and any leader — no matter how popular at one point —has a shelf life. The world in 2025 is a far more complex and troubled world than the one in which Trudeau and the Liberals won a majority government in 2015. No former PM has had to deal with the level of online toxicity, deliberate disinformation and post-pandemic vitriol one currently observes. 

A flawed but decent political leader

Was Justin Trudeau a good prime minister? 

Despite many setbacks and a few glaring disappointments, much of Trudeau’s legacy remains a fairly decent one. He led the country with compassion and a clear head during the pandemic, ensuring Canadians had something to fall back on with CERB. During those scary and unprecedented times, Trudeau’s steady hand and almost daily updates at Rideau Hall, as well as his unwavering trust in science and vaccines, allowed many of us to stay safe and breathe a sigh of relief, while south of the border and in the U.K. many needlessly died under anti-science leadership.

And while some might think that Trudeau’s approach to the convoy “freedom fighters” who wreaked havoc in Ottawa and on Parliament Hill was too heavy-handed, most Canadians agree with the federal government cracking down on them with the use of the Emergencies Act. I’m thankful he shut down a movement hijacked and largely funded by foreign interests and racist grifters. It was a movement that had the potential to create our own January 6th insurrection and the violence that came with it. Those calling that a “dictatorship” should perhaps reopen their history books. 

First, the good stuff. 

Aside from his solid pandemic response, Trudeau’s administration supported gender equity and women’s safety with important moves like upping paid leave for victims of family violence to 10 days and axing the two-year marriage time requirement for people sponsored by a spouse for immigration purposes, which sometimes forced women to remain in violent relationships. These are not minor things for victims of gender-based violence, even though more investments were needed for emergency shelters. 

While Harper’s Conservatives stripped funding from organizations like rape crisis centres and slashed budgets for gender equity, and Trump trampled on American women’s reproductive freedoms, Trudeau always made it clear that he was a feminist and would always vote in favour of a woman’s fundamental rights and reproductive freedom. I will always be grateful for a political leader who makes that clear — even if some of his work relationships with his female colleagues turned to shit. 

In sharp contrast, many in the Conservative Party of Canada are vocally anti-choice, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had no qualms recently going on Jordan Peterson’s podcast, a Conservative pundit with many questionable views, funded by — among other sponsors — anti-abortion organizations. As a woman, I’m paying attention.

Social progress happened 

In true Liberal fashion, Trudeau often campaigned left of centre while essentially leading a centre right party. Regardless, and often with the NDP’s support, social progress happened. 

$10-a-day daycare, cutting taxes for anyone making less than $100,000 (that’s most of us), the Canada Child Benefit (which lifted hundreds of thousands of Canadian children out of poverty), carbon tax rebates (a system that works and benefits Canadians, according to experts, despite Poilievre’s “Axe the Tax” silly slogans), the school lunch program, and more recently, the Pharmacare and Dental Care programs, which are just as much the NDP’s legacy.

The Trudeau administration legalized cannabis, had a pretty ambitious (though not always successful) climate change policy, instituted medically assisted death (MAID), and was a true ally for the LGBTQ+ community, fighting hard for their rights. Trudeau banned conversion therapy and was often vilified as “too woke” by his political opponents for defending minority rights. 

He also lifted 144 long-term boil-water advisories in Indigenous communities, with active long-term drinking water advisories on First Nations dropping by 73% since 2015. None were lifted under Harper.

At the same time, the Liberals spent billions of dollars fighting First Nations in court, so there’s that. 

Ottawa invested in housing for low-income Canadians, even though it’s primarily a provincial responsibility. This is something Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante pointed out, thanking Trudeau for his government’s “support for the construction of non-market housing and the fight against poverty.” Internationally, he handled Trump’s first term and his bullying tactics quite well.

Trudeau also lowered the retirement age back to 65 after Harper raised it to 67. Poilievre, who qualified for his MP pension that’s worth an estimated $120,000 per year when he was only 31, has tried hard to brand himself as an anti-elite everyman, was right there voting for that increase, too.

And while Poilievre’s caucus recently supported a Bloc Québécois motion calling for the Liberal government to support a BQ private member’s bill to increase Old Age Security (OAS) by 10% for seniors aged 65 to 74, it was clearly more of a pressure tactic against the Liberals than an honest policy choice. Poilievre never committed to following through on that legislation if he became prime minister. 

Bad moves and scandals

Of course, the Trudeau administration made some godawful moves and was embroiled in some major ethics scandals, revealing questionable behaviour behind the scenes, while those who challenged Trudeau were often strongarmed, undermined and/or demoted. I’m looking at you, Jody Wilson-Raybould, Jane Philpott and Chrystia Freeland. Memo to Justin: the catch in promoting strong competent women is that they’re going to call you out when you’re failing to live up to your promises. 

His immigration policy was often wonky, and he lacked conviction when anti-immigration sentiments started spiking, reversing important, humane decisions, while his housing policy was perhaps too little, too late. Trudeau also often failed to show enough empathy for people’s deep concerns over affordability, choosing to minimize, which left the door open for grievances that a populist politician could exploit. 

One of Trudeau’s biggest failings and one he said he regretted during his announcement was not working on electoral reform, which elicited a tired chuckle from me since he had years to fulfill it. 

At a certain point, collective angst boiled over and many Canadians decided that Trudeau was going to become their favourite punching bag.

Good news and bad hombres

Despite the handwringing, the Canadian economy grew in 2024, and even though many Canadians are concerned about the growing deficit, Canada continues to have the best credit rating, AAA, from two of the three rating agencies. Among the G7 countries, only Germany has a credit rating as good. So, while times are tough, Canada has weathered the post-pandemic storm better than others. In fact, recent data points to a slight decrease in Canadians’ gloomy outlook for the country’s economic future. Of course, that doesn’t mean Canadians aren’t worried.

One thing is certain: Those adamantly convinced that what mostly ails the country is Justin Trudeau and the Liberals may soon find out that that is not the case at all. Much of what is afflicting Canada is also affecting most of the globe. And I don’t think the cavalry is coming in the shape of a man who refuses to get a top-level security clearance to receive classified briefings on foreign interference. A man who couldn’t even make a live appearance to issue a statement about the PM’s resignation but chose — once again — cheap theatrics via a taped message with an ominous soundtrack playing in the background. Poilievre has worked hard to amplify the far-right narrative depicting Trudeau as a “tyrant,” and he may find himself at a loss for catchy slogans now that his favourite target is gone.

I wish more Canadians were paying attention to the foreign interference operations currently taking place, aiming to destabilize Canada and often pushing a right-wing agenda. It’s not accidental that Conservative media personalities like Jordan Peterson and Gad Saad are fangirling over Poilievre and Trump, and dangerous oligarchs like Elon Musk are openly rejoicing over Trudeau’s resignation while Trump is escalating his threats against our country. These are not people invested in Canadians’ best interests. 

What’s next for Canada?

Was Trudeau’s tenure a perfect one? Of course not. Point to any government in power for a decade that hasn’t made mistakes, or a politician who’s delivered on all promises. However, many of the issues that disenfranchised Canadians are frustrated by — inflation, high cost of living, housing shortages, post-pandemic economic uncertainty — have less to do with his leadership and more with the challenges of our times and corporate greed. 

While the Liberals could certainly have been more proactive earlier in seeking solutions for some of what ails us, we need strong, hands-on, progressive leadership and that requires far more than just ranting. Mud-slinging and smarmy slogans are easy to come by. It’s much harder to be in the driver’s seat and make delicate decisions to address very complex problems.

Poilievre may soon find that out. Or not. Trudeau’s resignation has opened the door to brand-new contenders, allowing those who support centre-progressive policies the opportunity to vote for someone other than him.

We’ll soon see.

I still remember the overwhelming sense of optimism and the possibility of “sunny ways” that Trudeau’s win signaled in 2015. Much, of course, didn’t materialize, but much did. 

Politics is a thankless job, and like Isaac Newton told us, what goes up must come down. Many politicians start off as heroes, inevitably reach that point where they disappoint everyone and become zeros, and once enough time has passed, their legacy is assessed a bit more rationally — both their strengths and shortcomings acknowledged. Few long-serving, elected political leaders are as good or as bad as we make them out to be. 

Whoever is next in line for the political throne will soon have the opportunity to prove that. ■

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Read more weekly editorial columns by Toula Drimonis.