A year after taking office, the wave of popularity of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has subsided a little. In a candid interview for a CTV News special presentation, Trudeau discusses how he has handled some of his campaign commitments.
Some highlights from the transcript of Trudeau’s interview are excerpted below. You can watch the full interview in the player above – all six parts of broadcast, and an extended video with bonus material from the Prime Minister and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau.
LISA LAFLAMME: You were elected as a change-maker. You wanted to be different. And yet, so many things in this year have not changed. We still have a health care crisis on many levels in this country. We now have a $30-billion debt. We have a frustrated First Nations. You have a cash-for-access controversy unfolding. It doesn’t feel transformational.
PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU: I think that would really depend on how carefully you look and how much you talk with Canadians. I mean the fact is that the first things we did was lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one percent. We did that as of January 1st.
Then in the summer we brought in the Canada Child Benefit which increased substantially the monthly non-taxable cheques to families who need it. That’s making a real difference in people’s lives.
On First Nations and indigenous peoples, we actually have moved significantly forward. There’s thousands of kids starting the year in new schools this September. There’s boil water advisories we’ve eliminated. There’s an inquiry – a national inquiry -- launched after all these years into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
Have we fixed everything in our first year? Well I think your expectations might have been a little high on that. But are we making meaningful progress on the big things that Canadians asked us to do? Absolutely.
But you’re getting words from First Nations and certainly from environmentalists. They’re using words like betrayal on the issue, certainly of pipelines. And you know, the fact that you campaigned and claimed Canada was going to be a leader in climate change, don’t you see that as a contradiction?
No, not at all. One of the fundamental responsibilities of any Canadian prime minister is to get our resources to market.
But in the 21st century, getting your resources to market means doing it responsibly, sustainably, and in a way that is respectful of local communities.
What we did was we listened to people and the concerns they had around spills and environmental protection and responsibility and a plan to reduce our climate emissions and reach the Paris targets. And we put forward a plan to do exactly that.
Well a lot of people suggest that the expansion of pipelines is just going to put pressure on other industries to meet the Paris Accord and it isn’t possible.
The fact is we have an absolute cap because of Alberta’s leadership – an absolute cap on emissions from the oil sands.
The issue we have is if we’re not building pipelines, we’re running oil by rail. And we know that rail cars carrying oil are not only more emitting themselves than a pipeline would be. But they are also significantly more dangerous for communities and evenfor individuals.
One of the concerns is the consumer cost of this and is now the right time to be doing this?
Absolutely now is the right time, because Canada has an opportunity to lead. The jobs of tomorrow, the jobs our kids and our grandkids are going to have are going to be in cleaner industries, in greater efficiency. We need to be part of making that change and leading the way.
- Watch the full interview to hear what Trudeau has to say about Saskatchewan’s reluctance about the federal plan for a carbon tax, sharing a continent with the U.S. when it is on a new course, and the jobs of tomorrow. Also, more on the cash-for-access controversy.
On the issues of partnerships let’s talk about the new administration in the United States. First of all where were you on U.S. Election night? Were you watching it?
Watching it at home with Sophie and some friends.
What was it like, that moment? (Donald Trump) didn’t step up to the cameras until three in the morning, but you saw the tide. I mean you obviously thought Hillary, as everybody did, that Hillary Clinton was going to –
It wasn’t the way people expected. But it really reminded me of having gone from third place, dead last in the polls and then ending up winning a majority government on October 19th of last year. When you connect with citizens and show that you’ve listened to them and are in alignment with how they’re feeling, this is what happens.
Trump, he seems diametrically opposed to so many of the things that you believe in to your core. And I just wonder if you have been seeking advice from those who know Donald Trump - Brian Mulroney for example or Conrad Black, on how to navigate this new world.
I talked with Brian Mulroney a few weeks ago when he was receiving an honour from the French government in Ottawa. And what we talked about was very consistent with my own read on my first conversation with president-elect Trump, which is that he’s someone who can be very personable on the phone and is very focused on deal-making or getting things done. Not overly wrapped up in ideology or political theory, he just wants to see results for people.
And quite frankly, because what he got elected on was strengthening the middle class and those working hard to join it, and that’s certainly what our focus is here in Canada. There are going to be a lot of issues in which we will be able to find complementarity and alignment.
- In the full interview: Is Putin a problem for Canada? How Canada has already made progress on pre-clearance border issues and why Trudeau is not “going to get spooked on hypotheticals” until the president-elect is in office.
On the middle class, and I know that’s your line, “the middle class and those working hard to join it” --
It’s not a line…
Well it is a line in the sense that ‘I’m here for the middle class and those working hard to join it’ – they’re the people now saying ‘we want’ --
We made a commitment because we recognized that the anxiety that people are feeling around the world, the polarization, the closed in, the worries, are happening because there’s a sense that growth isn’t working for people anymore – and that’s why what we have done is start to change the dynamic. That’s where lowering taxes on the middle class by raising them on the wealthiest 1%. We’re giving more money every month –
But even didn’t really deliver in the sense that you now have a $1.2-billion shortfall.
But one of the things that we committed to Canadians was that we were going to do things to help the middle class and we were willing to run a deficit in order to invest in the people who needed help. And that’s exactly what we’ve done and we’ve been consistent in doing that. These kinds of things are in direct contrast to that sense that people have around the world that globalization isn’t working for them, that growth isn’t benefitting average citizens.
I think when we look at job growth month after month it seems largely part-time job growth, which is a concern.
This is part of why we’ve made commitments to invest in infrastructure, to invest in innovation. I made an announcement just recently – that is investing in post-secondary educations. We’ve put aside $2 billion for research and advancing in the sciences that is going to lead to better discoveries, better jobs.
We’re investing billions of dollars in housing, in home care on the medical side. We’re investing billions of dollars in public transit that is not just creating good jobs now but is going to help people get to and from their good jobs in more reliable ways.
These are not things that happen overnight, but they are things that are starting to happen now. And people across the country are starting to feel that.
This time last year in this interview it was one of your proudest moments, saying “welcome home,” when the Syrian refugees arrived. Now they’re here, the 13-month mark, the loans are coming due. There’s been a call by the Senate committee, even, to forgive those loans, to give those people a leg up. Where are you on that?
I think one of the things that we recognize is that for the most vulnerable refugees there are huge challenges and there were always going to be huge challenges. And what happens after the first 12 months is the direct federal support moves towards provincial social support, social assistance. But on top of that, the language classes, the integration programs, all the support that’s there continues for those who need it. And as people find jobs and be able to move away from that, there is, there is greater success in those communities.
But we know that a number of refugees will take from anywhere from one to five years towards they are fully integrated. And when you think of the circumstances that so many of those are fleeing from, that’s not a, a terrible thing to, to accept that, you know, some people are going to take a little longer.
- Watch the full interview for Trudeau on what more can be done for the people who have fled Syria, how Russia has been a “less than productive” player when it comes to peace and stability in Syria, and why Canada should play a part again on the UN Security Council.
What can the federal government do to stem this fentanyl crisis in this country?
The opioid crisis has taken so many lives and it has caused so much anguish in families, in communities across the country. That’s why the health minister, Jane Philpot, has been deeply engaged in this and continues to be active with provincial partners, with municipal leadership including police chiefs in how we’re going to actually end this, this terrible affliction, tragedy that is ongoing.
And our housing. I mean mental health and housing, these are all sort of things that factor into–
We’ve pulled together significant amounts of infrastructure money on housing. That’s going to be a part of the and longer term solutions. Because if you don’t have a safe place to live it’s hard to build a life from that. Responding to mental health challenges, being better at addiction, increasing the opportunities for harm reduction is going to be another big part of it that we’ve just moved forward on as well. So there are lots of things we need to do. There’s no simple answer.
You’ve also moved forward interestingly on marijuana. Are you concerned you’re making it easier to put pot in the hands of kids?
No. That’s exactly why we’re controlling and regulating marijuana. Because right now our kids have easy access to marijuana and that has to stop. And by removing or significantly reducing the black market on marijuana by making it more comparable to alcohol in how it’s controlled and regulated, it will be harder for young people to buy it. It will be removing the criminal elements from the trade and sale of cannabis.
You’ve been very clear even throughout this year, that Canadians will not vote the same way again. So let’s just talk quickly about electoral reform. Electoral reform has been a key priority for you. It seems more and more challenging that this can actually happen in the timeline you expected.
We always knew that this was going to be challenging and that’s why we embarked upon a number of different ways of engaging with Canadians. Town halls across the country, the minister was directly engaged, an electoral reform committee made up of all parliamentarians where we don’t have a majority on it who put together a very thoughtful report. And a way to directly engage with Canadians where still today they can go on to mydemocracy.ca and fill out their thoughts and their values around our governance structures and how to improve it.
- In the full interview: More on challenge of electoral reform, the opioid crisis in Canada, and why the marijuana law helps take the drug off the black market. “It will be removing the criminal elements from the trade and sale of cannabis."
I’m going to ask you your hopes now for, for 2017 and for yourself, your family and Canadians.
I think what I hope for 2017 is an amazing party. We’re turning 150.
It will be a celebration of youth, of diversity, reconciliation with indigenous peoples and of the environment.
We will be able to share with the country, with the world what is great about Canada and take tremendous pride that 150 years young we’re still dreaming big and working hard to build a better future for ourselves and our kids.
And as 2016 closes your first year as prime minister, how has that transition been in your own family?
Obviously there have been challenges. I’m travelling a lot. I’m not as present as I’d like to be. But I’ve also gotten very good because I had such great examples in my parents at enforcing time with family.
Because quite frankly, I’m of no use to anyone if I don’t remember why I’m doing this job, why I’m putting in the long hours, why I’m travelling across the country and around the world. It’s to build a better future for my kids.
And being connected with them and helping them do their homework in the evenings and spending time with Sophie, these are things that remind me of, of you know, what – what really matters in life.
