Justin Trudeau

Trudeau had ten years. What did it get us? Housing nobody can afford, groceries that cost a fortune, and debt that future generations will pay off. I'm not even particularly political — I just look at my bank account and my grocery receipts and know things got harder. That happened on his watch over a decade in power. Good intentions are not a substitute for results. The legacy is clear.

Whatever you think of Justin Trudeau politically, his decade in power left Canadians in a far more difficult economic position. Housing became unaffordable in nearly every major city. Inflation hit hardest for people who could least afford it. The cost of groceries, rent, and utilities all exploded. His government responded too slowly and spent without enough discipline. I don't doubt his intentions but good intentions don't pay rent. The legacy is one of missed opportunities for everyday Canadians.

Justin Trudeau came to office in 2015 on a wave of optimism, promising sunny ways, transparency, and real change. On social policy, he delivered — legalizing cannabis, introducing the Canada Child Benefit that cut child poverty significantly, securing $10-a-day childcare, expanding dental care, and managing the COVID-19 pandemic with substantial income supports. He also renegotiated NAFTA into CUSMA and introduced a national carbon pricing framework. But governance is where Trudeau repeatedly stumbled. The SNC-Lavalin affair resulted in a formal finding that he violated the Conflict of Interest Act — a serious breach for a man who campaigned on ethics. The WE Charity scandal raised further questions about his judgment. His most important campaign promise — electoral reform — was abandoned without ceremony. Under his watch, Canada's housing affordability crisis deepened dramatically, immigration backlogs exploded, and the cost of living became the defining political issue of his final years. His invocation of the Emergencies Act in 2022 was later ruled unconstitutional by the Federal Court. By 2025, even his own party had lost confidence in his leadership. He resigned on March 13, 2025, ending a nine-year tenure that started with enormous promise and ended in fatigue and frustration. The legacy is real but deeply uneven.