Riding High on Vaccines, Trudeau Aims to Restore Ruling Majority
- After rough 2020, Canadian PM expected to call snap election
- Leader has overcome early setbacks and lightweight image
Justin Trudeau
Photographer: Andrej Ivanov/AFP/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Early in the pandemic, Justin Trudeau looked like a man under siege. Atop a minority government, hiding behind a scruffy Covid beard, Canada’s prime minister called the military into infected retirement homes as hospitals filled and drug producers threw up their hands over vaccines.
So it’s all the more remarkable these days to see the newly-shaven, freshly-coiffed 49-year-old Trudeau criss-crossing his country with beaming aides, promoting childcare and green energy, ending travel bans and basking in the unexpected fact that a bigger percentage of Canadians are vaccinated than Americans.