Justin Trudeau Quotes & Sayings

You can't run a government from one single person. What instead matters is that leadership be about gathering around extraordinary individuals and getting the best out of them. — Justin Trudeau

For me, I've always been Justin Trudeau, son of. All my life I've had to know I was carrying a name, and people were paying more attention to what I had to say, and I had to make a choice early on. — Justin Trudeau

In 2012, the Liberal Party affirmed overwhelmingly at the policy convention that we are a pro-choice party. It means that we are a party that defends women's rights, and therefore, it would be inconsistent for any Liberal MP to be able to vote to take away women's rights. — Justin Trudeau

I had to learn to dismiss people who would criticize me based on nothing, but I also had to learn not to believe the people who would compliment me and think I was great based on nothing. And that led me to have a very, very strong sense of myself and my strengths. — Justin Trudeau

People are very sophisticated in their concerns about various parties, in their hopes for what the next government could look like. And I'm not going to prejudge any possible outcomes. — Justin Trudeau

I'm not going to reduce the choices of Canadians at the ballot box by backroom deals or secret arrangements. I think that's a cause for cynicism more than anything else. — Justin Trudeau

I think I'd work on making sure that Canadians have opportunities to find good jobs, to grow, to gain stability in terms of pensions. The reality is that Canadians don't feel that our economy is working for us. — Justin Trudeau

We're asking those who have done well to do a little more for the people who need it. — Justin Trudeau

One of the challenges that Vancouver and cities across the country are facing is that we don't have a federal partner in terms of building for transit, not in the way we need. — Justin Trudeau

I think we're pretty much where we need to be on corporate taxes. — Justin Trudeau

Canada was built around a very simple premise. A promise that you can work hard and succeed and build a future for yourselves and your kids, and that future for your kids would be better than the one you had. — Justin Trudeau

My father's values and vision of this country obviously form everything I have as values and ideals. But this is not the ghost of my father running for the leadership of the Liberal party. This is me. — Justin Trudeau

I have made it clear that future candidates need to be completely understanding that they will be expected to vote pro-choice on any bills. — Justin Trudeau

I look at what I have as a challenge and I could list a whole bunch of different challenges. And I choose not to be daunted by any of them. — Justin Trudeau

My idea of freedom is that we should protect the rights of people to believe what their conscience dictates, but fight equally hard to protect people from having the beliefs of others imposed upon them. — Justin Trudeau

Open nominations means it is local Liberals who choose who gets to be their representative. But what that doesn't mean is that somebody can behave any which way and bully other people out of the nomination and then be the last person standing. — Justin Trudeau

So having a little more of an awareness of what's going on in the rest of the world I think is what many Canadians would hope for Americans. — Justin Trudeau

If Rob Ford decided he wanted to run for the Liberal Party in 2015, we'd say, 'No, sorry, the way you approach things, the way you govern, the way you behave is not suitable to the kind of Liberal team we want to build.' — Justin Trudeau

I was a snowboard instructor, I was a bouncer in a nightclub, I was a whitewater river guide for many years. I worked as a teacher. I make no apologies for a very varied set of life experiences. — Justin Trudeau

I remember the bad times as a succession of painful emotional snapshots: Me walking into the library at 24 Sussex, seeing my mother in tears, and hearing her talk about leaving while my father stood facing her, stern and ashen. — Justin Trudeau

You cannot let yourself be defined by the hopes that you will fulfill the darkest wishes of your opponents. — Justin Trudeau

The irony was that despite having modernized Canada's divorce laws in the 1960s, his personal faith held that "what God has joined, let no man tear asunder." He even apologized to me once, years later, for not ever being able to provide his teenage sons with a maternal presence in our lives in Montreal: he simply felt that he could never remarry. I of course reassured him that it was of no matter to us, but the lesson he taught me about the distinction between private faith and public responsibility was one that would later guide my own thinking about leadership.) — Justin Trudeau

Canada has always been there to help people who need it. — Justin Trudeau

I have no fears that on a purely merit basis, we will have an embarrassment of riches from which to choose in order to reach gender parity. — Justin Trudeau

I have a very difficult, high-pressured job. Everyone knows how challenging it is to balance family responsibilities with a job that takes me across the country and working extremely hard. — Justin Trudeau

We're committed to making sure parents have affordable, quality early learning for their kids - there's no question about it. — Justin Trudeau

Any time you have a competitive situation like politics is, there are winners, and there are people who don't win, and their supporters can sometimes be very emotional. — Justin Trudeau

A very powerful mechanism to get elected is to play on anger and pick those wedge issues. — Justin Trudeau

I think Canadians are tired of politicians that are spun and scripted within an inch of their life, people who are too afraid of what a focus group might say about one comment or a political opponent might try to twist out of context, to actually say much of anything at all. — Justin Trudeau

When my father died, I had millions of people supporting me in a very, very difficult time. I have received so much from this country. I realize that we're defined in life not by what we get from this world but by what we have to offer it, and I know that I have a lot to offer this country, and I'm serious about devoting my life to it. — Justin Trudeau

Things fell into place and there was an opportunity for fresh leadership. And - I was - I was successful. — Justin Trudeau

Living your life in the public eye is a greater burden than most people can imagine. — Justin Trudeau

Canadians are nice and polite. It's not just a stereotype. — Justin Trudeau

I don't read the newspapers, I don't watch the news. I figure, if something important happens, someone will tell me. — Justin Trudeau

Our country's economy is strong, diversified, and resilient. — Justin Trudeau

Ultimately, being open and respectful towards each other is much more powerful as a way to diffuse hatred and anger than, you know, layering on, you know, big walls and oppressive policies. — Justin Trudeau

Once Canadians no longer believe that there is any good in politics, they no longer feel we can work together to solve the challenges we're facing, and that is my fundamental motivation: how do we work together as a country to solve the big challenges we're facing. — Justin Trudeau

I think it's hard to know how one deals in situations of confrontation until you're actually in there, so I'm not going to speculate on what I would do. — Justin Trudeau

Canadians are tired of being cynical. — Justin Trudeau

Canada must be progressive, and Canada must be a just society. — Justin Trudeau

Our shared histories and common values make us natural trading partners and we will continue to work with both the United Kingdom and the European Union as we move forward with this new decision. — Justin Trudeau

Promising something that seems popular at the time that you know you're never going to deliver - that's the kind of cynical politics that I don't want any part of. — Justin Trudeau

The Liberal party has always worked with multiple parties in the House to make sure we're being governed in the best interest of Canadians. — Justin Trudeau

When I get passionate or worked up about an issue, I say things that the Conservatives and opponents and critics like to pounce on. — Justin Trudeau

People are very much worried that our kids are not going to inherit the same opportunities that we inherited from our parents. — Justin Trudeau

Connecting with Canadians isn't about what you say, it's about what you're listening to. It's about what you understand. — Justin Trudeau

My mother is brilliant but emotional and very much gregarious and connected to people. My father was brilliant but focused and driven and very narrow-casted. — Justin Trudeau

I think people understand that if you're going to have a successful economy, you need people's potential to be realized. That means education. It means university education, sure, but it also means training, apprenticeships and various kinds of skills diplomas that we know are necessary. — Justin Trudeau

I trust Canadians' capacity to determine who will sit in their Parliament. — Justin Trudeau

I have been incredibly lucky all my life. I've had a family that has loved me and given me incredible opportunities. I've gone to great schools. I've travelled across the country. — Justin Trudeau

Vancouver is home. I spent a huge amount of time here as a kid growing up with my mom, with my grandparents who lived here. — Justin Trudeau

People don't believe that any politician is any different from any other one. — Justin Trudeau

The fact is, I'm opposed to coalitions. — Justin Trudeau

I'm actually not in favour of decriminalizing cannabis
I'm in favour of legalizing it. Tax and regulate. It's one of the only ways to keep it out of the hands of our kids because the current war on drugs, the current model isn't working, — Justin Trudeau

People think that boxing is all about how hard you can hit your opponent. It's not. Boxing is about how hard a hit you can take and keep going. — Justin Trudeau

Their approach is to exploit divisions rather than bridge them. Perhaps that's an effective political strategy, but it's lousy way to govern a country, especially one as diverse as ours. Once you've divided people against one another - East against West, urban against rural, Quebec against the rest of Canada - so you can win an election, it's very hard to pull them back together again to solve our shared problems. — Justin Trudeau

I think growing an economy is a good way to help with a deficit, but ultimately, it's about fiscal discipline and responsible spending - and smart decisions. — Justin Trudeau

When I get out across the country and listen to people, the resentment that I see and the frustration that I see is that we have a generation of people who are fairly convinced that their kids are not going to have a better quality of life or a better future than they will. — Justin Trudeau

My father raised us to step toward trouble rather than to step away from it. — Justin Trudeau

Ours was not a normal or easy life. — Justin Trudeau

Our child benefit goes directly to the families who need it the most. — Justin Trudeau

Who cares about winning? We should focus on serving. — Justin Trudeau

Any decision made by my father was the result of a process that had involved many voices and which sometimes had taken weeks or months. — Justin Trudeau

Nobody knows better than I do what the pressures of party leadership can do to a young family. It tore mine apart. — Justin Trudeau

I know that a prime minister of Canada needs to be deeply respectful of the other levels of government - whether it be municipal, provincial, or even nation-to-nation relationships with aboriginal governments. — Justin Trudeau

At one point, people are going to have to realize that maybe I know what I'm doing. — Justin Trudeau

People still think there's sort of a debate around the Charter that politicos go into. And I get wrapped up in it, too, from time to time. — Justin Trudeau

Can I actually make a difference? Can I get people to believe in politics once again? Can I get people to accept more complex answers to complex questions? I know I can. I know that's what I do very well. — Justin Trudeau

Many immigrant families I met in Papineau brought with them lingering animosities from their country of origin, but they accepted that Canada was a place where people come to escape old-world feuds, not to nurture them. So what does multiculturalism mean to these people - and to me? It means a presumption that society will accommodate forms of cultural expression that do not violate our society's core values. These include the right of a Jew to wear his kippa, a Sikh to wear his turban, a Muslim to wear her headscarf, or a Christian to wear a cross pendant. — Justin Trudeau

I was a high-school teacher. I am a strong advocate for women's rights, and I'm not a woman. — Justin Trudeau

I am a teacher. It's how I define myself. A good teacher isn't someone who gives the answers out to their kids but is understanding of needs and challenges and gives tools to help other people succeed. That's the way I see myself, so whatever it is that I will do eventually after politics, it'll have to do a lot with teaching. — Justin Trudeau

We need the middle class to feel more confident about its prospects and about its future. We need to cut down on this anxiety that sees some people succeeding and the majority struggling - having to make choices between paying for their kids' education or saving for their own retirement. — Justin Trudeau

I am, as many people are, inspired by Jack Layton's legacy and the way that he approached politics, — Justin Trudeau

I've made the commitment to Canadians that I'm going to stay myself, and I'm going stay open about it, and I'm going to make sure that the thoughtfulness with which I approach issues continues to shine through. — Justin Trudeau

Michel's death made my father question his faith, but it had the opposite effect on me. Amidst all the searing emotional pain I was feeling, I had a moment of revelation: despite all the torment and confusion we suffer in this valle lacrimarum, a divine sense of the universe exists, one we cannot comprehend. With this revelation came an oddly empowering sense that my life, like everyone else's, is in God's hands. This awareness hasn't absolved me of the need to struggle for a better world and a better self, but it has helped me deal with things I cannot change, including death. It also helped reaffirm the core of the Christian beliefs I retain to this day. — Justin Trudeau

My father found cocktail parties challenging. — Justin Trudeau

There's a lotta countries that do very well at dropping bombs. There are other things that Canada actually does better than most other countries. And one of them is training people on the ground. — Justin Trudeau

Fear is a dangerous thing. Once it is sanctioned by the state there is no telling where it might lead. It is always a short path to walk from being suspicious of our fellow citizens to taking actions to restrict their liberty. — Justin Trudeau

Canadians want to elect good people to be their voice in Ottawa. — Justin Trudeau

I think we need to price carbon; there's no question about it. The way we do it needs to be based on science and not political debates and attacks, and that's why I'm drawing on experts and best practices from around the world. — Justin Trudeau

I want my Canada back! — Justin Trudeau

The Liberal Party will not vote - no Liberal member of Parliament will vote - to take away a woman's right to choose. — Justin Trudeau

For me, to represent people who represent the future of Canada and the great challenges we will face over the coming decades - this is where I wanted to start ... I'm a teacher; I'm a convenor; I'm a gatherer; I'm someone who reaches out to people and is deeply interested in what they have to say. And people see that I'm not faking it. I'm actually genuinely committed to this dialogue that we're opening up, and this understanding that needs to happen in order to be an effective MP. — Justin Trudeau

You can't be Canadian without being aware of at least one other country, the United States, 'cause it's so important to us. I think we sometimes like to think that, you know, Americans will pay attention to us from time to time, too. — Justin Trudeau

It's important that people understand who I am and where I come from and not just have it shaped by purely political discourse. — Justin Trudeau

If we wander around as politicians jumping at every shadow and desperately afraid of having our words taken out of context or attacks layered on in an unfair way, I think we're actually doing a disrespect to Canadians, to people's intelligence. — Justin Trudeau

Every time, every time a tourist or an immigrant or a refugee shows up in another country there's a security risk. — Justin Trudeau

I think Canadians want to get a feel for the people who will serve them ... and, for me, I think that Canadians will trust people who trust them. — Justin Trudeau

I sort of locked into the idea that if I could be the perfect son to both of my parents, well maybe that would be enough to keep them together. And ultimately, obviously, it wasn't. Regardless of what I tried to do. That was a lesson about limitations. — Justin Trudeau

The federal government's role is to establish a process whereby industry can pitch a project, and Canadians can be reassured that this project is worth the risk. That's at the heart of governments granting permits and communities granting permission. People understand we do need economic growth. We do need natural resource projects. — Justin Trudeau

I trust Canadians to be able to look at the different parties, the different leaders, the plans, the teams, and make a responsible choice. And I'm very, very confident that's exactly what Canadians are going to do. — Justin Trudeau