OTTAWA -- Sophie Grégoire Trudeau could get additional staff to help her deal with a flood of requests, the Prime Minister's Office confirmed Thursday.
Grégoire Trudeau has one staffer now, but told Quebec City's Le Soleil earlier this week that she needs a team to help her serve people.
"I want to be everywhere, but I can't," she told the newspaper, adding she has three children and a husband who is prime minister. "I need help. I need a team to help me serve people."
Grégoire Trudeau currently has one staffer, and told Le Soleil that she works from her dining room table rather than having an office in Langevin Block, the building that houses the PMO.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office confirmed a Globe and Mail report that the office is looking at providing additional staff.
"As has been the tradition in Canada -- and has been the case for spouses of former Prime Ministers -- Madame Grégoire Trudeau receives help from PMO staff to fulfill the duties and responsibilities that come with the role. She receives an extraordinarily high volume of correspondence and invitations. Therefore, we are continuing to look at new ways to make sure she is supported at the official events she attends, as well as making sure that correspondence from Canadians across the country is triaged and answered in a timely manner," Olivier Duchesneau wrote in a statement to CTV News.
"Madame Grégoire Trudeau participates in many activities, ranging from local events like the CHEO Healthy Kids Awards or the Wabano Fundraising-Gala event, as well as national or major non-profit organisation events like the Anorexia and Bulimia awareness events, We Day events, Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards Gala, Women’s Festival etc.," he said.
"She also participates in official events and international visits with the Prime Minister. In addition, she is the official spokesperson of Fillactive, a foundation that provides opportunities for girls between the ages of 12 to 17 to adopt a healthy and active lifestyle. On top of that, she is the Honorary Chair of the National Art Gallery Gala."
Duchesneau wouldn’t provide additional details, such as how many requests Grégoire Trudeau receives or in how many events she participates. It’s not clear what additional staff are being considered, although Duchesneau’s response suggests it would be correspondence and scheduling staff.
Conservative MP Candice Bergen pointed to Trudeau taking two nannies onto his staff, something previous prime ministers had done but former prime minister Stephen Harper did not.
"I think it's hypocrisy, absolutely. The first thing Justin Trudeau did was he was elected was he took away benefits from families who he deemed too rich," she said.
"Being the family of the prime minister is a big job, a difficult job, [that takes] a lot of sacrifices," Bergen allowed. But "it really is the hypocrisy of Mr. Trudeau at this point always wanting more. Always wanting more to do self-promotion, to do vanity trips, to do the things that he likes to do."
New Democrat MP Niki Ashton said Grégoire Trudeau sounds disconnected from the reality most Canadians face.
"I'm more troubled about the statements that that speak to how out of touch one can be with the realities that working women in Canada face today. We're talking about Canadian women [who] on a daily basis struggle with the costs of childcare that are increasingly creating hardship for Canadian families. We're talking about working women that struggle to find work-life balance," she said.
Grégoire Trudeau wouldn’t be the first to require additional staff. When Brian Mulroney was prime minister, his wife Mila had three staffers. Harper's wife, Laureen, had one staffer.
Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc said it’s "a longtime tradition that the Prime Minister's spouse is supported" for official activities.
"It's no secret that Ms. Grégoire Trudeau is asked to attend an enormous number of events. She's participated in a whole series of very worthy causes, so we find that a perfectly appropriate conversation to have. Does she have the adequate support to undertake these official functions?"
