What is Justin Trudeau's Net Worth and Salary?
Justin Trudeau is a Canadian politician and teacher who has a net worth of $5 million. Justin Trudeau is the Leader of the Liberal Party and was elected prime minister-designate of Canada in 2015. As prime minister, Trudeau legalized recreational marijuana, created the federal carbon tax; negotiated various trade deals; and signed the Paris Agreement, among other things.
Salary and Benefits
As a member of Parliament for Papineau, Justin Trudeau earns a base salary of $178,900 (which is around $140,000 USD). He ALSO earns another $178,900 for his role as Prime Minister of Canada. In total his salary is $357,800 CAD which is equal to around $270,000 USD. Technically he also receives a $2,000 annual car allowance which may not go very far on maintenance for his 1960 Mercedes-Benz 300SL.
Justin, wife wife Sophie Trudeau and their three children live in a 22-bedroom mansion paid for with public money. They opted not to live in the traditional Prime Minister's residence – 24 Sussex Drive – because that home reportedly needs more than $10 million in major renovations. Trudeau lived at 24 Sussex Drive when his father Pierre was Prime Minister.
He worked at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School from 1999 to 2002. During this period his annual salary was $44,000 CAD.
Trudeau made the jump from teaching to politics in 2008 when he won an election to Canadian Parliament for Papineau. At this point his salary jumped to $150,000 CAD per year.
Speaking Fees
In years when he has not held political office Justin has hit the speaker circuit hard. In 2007 alone he reported $467,000 in speaking fees.
Early Life and Education
Justin Trudeau was born on Christmas Day in 1971 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife Margaret. He has a younger brother named Sacha, and had another named Michel who was killed in an avalanche in 1998. Trudeau is of Scottish and French-Canadian ancestry. When he was five, his parents separated; they eventually divorced in 1984. The couple ultimately came to a joint-custody arrangement and remained on good terms. Through his mother's remarriage to Fried Kemper, Trudeau has two half-siblings named Kyle and Alicia. He also has a half-sister named Sarah from his father's relationship with Deborah Coyne.
As a youth, Trudeau was educated at Rockcliffe Park Public School before attending the private Lycée Claudel d'Ottawa and Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf. For his higher education, he first went to McGill University, from which he earned a BA in literature, and then attended the University of British Columbia, from which he obtained a degree in education. Trudeau went on to study engineering at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, but didn't graduate. He then began a master's degree at McGill but withdrew to pursue his career in politics.
Career Beginnings in Education
Trudeau began his career as an educator, working as a substitute teacher at various schools in Vancouver and serving as a full-time math and French teacher at West Point Grey Academy.
Rise to Recognition
Trudeau first gained widespread national recognition in 2000 when he delivered a memorable eulogy at the state funeral of his father. Also that year, he and his family established the Kokanee Glacier Alpine Campaign to promote winter sports safety. Trudeau went on to become a prominent media personality. From 2002 to 2003, he was a panelist on the CBC Radio series "Canada Reads," and in 2007 portrayed his cousin Talbot Mercer Papineau in the two-part CBC Television miniseries "The Great War."
Political Career, 2000-2011
Trudeau became increasingly involved with the Liberal Party of Canada following his father's passing. He appeared at the leadership conventions, and was appointed to chair a task force on youth renewal in 2006. The year after that, Trudeau won the Liberal Party's nomination in Papineau; he went on to win the election against Vivian Barbot. After the Conservative Party won a minority government in 2008, Trudeau entered Parliament as a member of the Official Opposition. In that role, he advocated for multiculturalism and the rights of youth. In the 2011 federal election, Trudeau was reelected in Papineau.
Liberal Party Leader
In late 2012, Trudeau announced his campaign for leadership of the Liberal Party. He ended up winning the race in 2013, handily defeating candidates Marc Garneau, Martha Hall Findlay, and Joyce Murray. In 2015, following the longest official campaign in Canada in more than a century, Trudeau led the Liberal Party to a huge victory in the federal election.
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Prime Minister of Canada
With the landslide victory of his party in 2015, Trudeau became the next prime minister of Canada; at the age of 43, he became the second-youngest prime minister in the country's history, after Joe Clark. His first legislative priorities included lowering taxes for middle-income citizens and raising taxes for the top earners. In his first term, Trudeau undertook various initiatives, including passing the Cannabis Act to legalize recreational marijuana; establishing the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments; creating a federal carbon tax; negotiating major trade deals; and signing the Paris Agreement to help curb climate change. In both 2019 and 2021, Trudeau led the Liberal Party to minority governments; during that time, he oversaw the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and announced a ban on assault-style weapons. Among other notable actions, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act in 2022 in response to the Freedom Convoy protests against COVID-19 safety protocols.
Controversies
Trudeau has not been without his controversies as prime minister. In early 2017, an investigation was launched by ethics commissioner Mary Dawson into a vacation he and his family took to Imam Aga Khan IV's private island in the Bahamas. The resulting report found that this was in violation of the Conflict of Interest Act.
In 2019, Trudeau and his government were embroiled in the SNC-Lavalin affair, in which the government was alleged to have tried to influence Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould in relation to the prosecution of the company SNC-Lavalin. An investigation by the ethics commissioner was launched into the matter. Also in 2019, Trudeau was criticized when old pictures and video emerged showing him wearing brownface and blackface. He subsequently issued a public apology.
Personal Life
In 2005, Trudeau married television personality Sophie Grégoire, who had been a classmate and childhood friend of his late brother Michel. Together, they have three children named Xavier, Ella-Grace, and Hadrien. The couple lived for a time in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Montreal. They later moved into a rented home in Ottawa's Rockcliffe Park. In 2014, an intruder broke into their home. Following his electoral victory in 2015, Trudeau and his family moved into Rideau Cottage on the grounds of Rideau Hall.
On August 1, 2023 Justin and Sophie announced that they had separated after 18 years of marriage.
