Justin Trudeau’s announcement that he would step down as Canada’s prime minister was expected after he faced political struggles in recent months, but it nonetheless represented a stunning fall for a leader once so beloved that his diplomatic meetings were marked by fans lining up to take selfies with him.
Here is a look at his political rise and fall, which has played out over the past 25 years.
2000: Mr. Trudeau was already a celebrity when he was born on Christmas Day in 1971, the son of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the prime minister at the time, and his glamorous wife. Margaret. But the eulogy Mr. Trudeau delivered in 2000 for his father returned him to the spotlight and provided an early glimpse of his political aspirations. “We have gathered from coast to coast to coast. From one ocean to another, united in our grief to say goodbye,” Mr. Trudeau, then 28, told a packed cathedral of mourners. “But this is not the end.”
2008: Mr. Trudeau, a former high school teacher, was elected to Parliament at the age of 36.
2012: Mr. Trudeau won a charity boxing match against a Conservative who had a black belt in karate, lifting his political profile and popularity.
2013: Mr. Trudeau was elected to lead the embattled Liberal Party, which was the dominant federal political force for most of Canada’s history, especially during many of his father’s 15 years as prime minister. But it had suffered for a decade from a major ethics scandal in Quebec and from three consecutive party leaders who had distinguished résumés but left voters unimpressed.
2015: Mr. Trudeau burst onto the international scene as a newly elected young leader of Canada. He unveiled the country’s first gender-balanced cabinet and — when asked why balance mattered — quipped, “Because it’s 2015,” a response that helped advance the progressive brand he would build in the decade to come. He styled himself as a feminist, an environmentalist, and an advocate for refugee rights and Indigenous rights. Vogue ranked him as one of the year’s 10 “convention-defying hotties,” referring to him as a “Canadian politician-dreamboat.”
2016: Mr. Trudeau outlined a national carbon tax program that included rebates for consumers. The plan was one of his major accomplishments as prime minister, but was seized on by his political opponents as having put a burden on everyday Canadians.
2017: After the election of President Donald J. Trump in the United States, Mr. Trudeau sought to present a stark contrast in Canada. When Mr. Trump instituted a temporary ban on travel to the United States from some predominantly Muslim countries and restricted refugee programs, Mr. Trudeau posted on social media, “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength.” But the first in a series of scandals that would chip away at Mr. Trudeau’s image also emerged, after an ethics commission found Mr. Trudeau violated conflict of interest rules in 2016 with a luxurious free vacation that he failed to declare.
2018: Mr. Trudeau was at the forefront of a reckoning by post-colonial nations, initiating a reconciliation with Indigenous populations in Canada. But he was also accused of having groped a reporter in 2000, an allegation he denied.
2019: Mr. Trudeau’s reputation took another hit when a federal ethics commissioner ruled that Mr. Trudeau had tried to circumvent, undermine and discredit his former justice minister and attorney general in connection with a criminal case against SNC-Lavalin, a multinational engineering and construction firm based in Montreal. Images also surfaced showing Mr. Trudeau wearing blackface or brownface as a student in the 1990s and as a teacher at a private prep school in 2001. He was re-elected, but the Liberal Party lost its majority.
2020: During the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Trudeau became the first Group of 7 leader to isolate himself, after his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for Covid-19. (They are now separated.) Mr. Trudeau pushed for restrictive measures and was targeted over them by his Conservative critics, even though most of the restrictions were put in place by provincial governments.
2021: When his approval ratings were still relatively high, Mr. Trudeau called a snap election, saying he wanted a strong mandate for his party to lead Canada out of the pandemic and into economic recovery. He eked out a narrow victory, but the Liberal Party again failed to secure a majority of votes.
2022: Canadian protesters fighting vaccine requirements paralyzed Ottawa, the capital, and several border crossings. Mr. Trudeau took the rare step of declaring a national public order emergency, allowing the authorities to move aggressively to restore public order, banning public assembly and restricting travel. It was a move that fueled some conservative anger against him, while rising housing costs and inflation were a frustration for Canadians of all political persuasions.
2023: In a discussion with The New York Times in 2023, Mr. Trudeau noted that people were angry. “It really sucks right now. Like, everything sucks for people, even in Canada. We’re supposed to be polite and nice, but, man, people are mad.” While he was contending with popular outrage over the cost of housing and high unemployment, Mr. Trudeau also had friction with India, accusing “agents of the government of India” of carrying out the assassination of a Sikh community leader in British Columbia.
2024: In September, Mr. Trudeau’s hold on power slipped somewhat when the left-leaning New Democratic Party deprived Liberals of guaranteed support needed to pass legislation. In October, Mr. Trudeau said he was tightening Canada’s immigration policies after the country welcomed nearly three million people over three years, straining health care and other services, a move viewed as an admission his policy had not worked. In December, Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister and finance minister, resigned abruptly, a stinging rebuke to Mr. Trudeau.
2025: Mr. Trudeau caved to pressure from many in his party to step down.
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