TORONTO (TIP): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, are separating after 18 years of marriage. The two said in statements posted on Instagram that they made the decision after “many meaningful and difficult conversations.”
A statement from the prime minister’s office said they both have signed a legal separation agreement.
Trudeau, the 51-year-old scion of one of Canada’s most famous politicians, was sworn into office in 2015. Sophie Trudeau is a former model and TV host. The couple were married in 2005.
Together, they brought star power to the prime minister’s office and appeared in the pages of Vogue magazine. They have three children, 15-year-old Xavier, 14-year-old Ella-Grace and 9-year-old Hadrien.
“As always, we remain a close family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything we have built and will continue to build,” the two said on Instagram.
An official familiar with the matter said Trudeau will continue to live at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, where he has lived since 2015, and the children will primarily live there to maintain stability.
The official said she has moved to a separate Ottawa home but will spend time at Rideau Cottage at times including when he is travelling. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
She has played a less visible role in recent years, rarely travelling with the prime minister on official trips. The two were seen together publicly at Canada Day events in Ottawa last month.
“They remain a close family, and Sophie and the prime minister are focused on raising their kids in a safe, loving and collaborative environment,” the statement from Trudeau’s office said. “The family will be together on vacation, beginning next week.”
His office requested respect for their privacy.
Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire met as children when she was a classmate of his youngest brother, Michel, and they reconnected as adults when they co-hosted a 2003 charity gala.
Trudeau is the second prime minister to announce a separation while in office.
His father, Pierre Trudeau, and mother, Margaret Trudeau, separated in 1977 and divorced in 1984 during the elder Trudeau’s final year in the prime minister’s office.
Margaret Trudeau wrote in her memoir that she had a romance with Senator Ted Kennedy. During a 1977 visit to Washington, D.C. with Pierre, she sat listening to her husband’s speech before Congress while feeling “torn between an intense need for him and a longing for Ted Kennedy.” Margaret wrote she became infatuated with Kennedy after meeting him a few years earlier. She told Kennedy that he “had not destroyed my marriage but that I had used him to help me destroy a marriage that was already over.”
Just weeks later Margaret, who had then-undiagnosed mental illness, left her husband to party with the Rolling Stones in Toronto. The marriage ended soon after that.
Justin, who was a child when his parents separated, wrote in his 2014 book “Common Ground” that public life took its toll. “I knew, even then, that the demands imposed by the life my parents were leading affected them far more than the ordinary stress of parenthood,” he wrote. (AP)
Tag: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
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Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and his wife announce separation after 18 years of marriage
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G-7 leaders end summit pledging to hurt Russia economically
PM Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau on Monday. Photo credit: Reuters Elmau (TIP)- Leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies struck a united stance to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” as Russia’s invasion grinds on, and said they would explore far-reaching steps to cap Kremlin income from oil sales that are financing the war. The final statement Tuesday, June 28, from the Group of Seven summit in Germany underlined their intent to impose “severe and immediate economic costs” on Russia. It left out key details on how the fossil fuel price caps would work in practice, setting up more discussion in the weeks ahead to “explore” measures to bar imports of Russian oil above a certain level. That would hit a key Russian source of income and, in theory, help relieve the energy price spikes and inflation afflicting the global economy as a result of the war. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to our unprecedented coordination on sanctions for as long as necessary, acting in unison at every stage,” the leaders said.
Leaders also agreed on a ban on imports of Russian gold and to step up aid to countries hit with food shortages by the blockage on Ukraine grain shipments through the Black Sea. The price cap would in theory work by barring service provides such as shippers or insurers from dealing with oil priced above a fixed level. That could work because the service providers are mostly located in the European Union or the UK and thus within reach of sanctions.
To be effective, however, it would have to involve as many consuming countries as possible, in particular India, where refiners have been snapping up cheap Russian oil shunned by Western traders. Details on how the proposal would be implemented were left for continuing talks in coming weeks. Before the summit’s close, leaders joined in condemning what they called the “abominable” Russian attack on a shopping mall in the town of Kremechuk, calling it a war crime and vowing that President Vladimir Putin and others involved “will be held to account”.
The leaders of the US, Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Canada and Japan on Monday pledged to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” after conferring by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The summit host, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said he “once again very emphatically set out the situation as Ukraine currently sees it.” Zelenskyy’s address came hours before Ukrainian officials reported a deadly Russian missile strike on a crowded shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk. From the secluded Schloss Elmau hotel in the Bavarian Alps, the G-7 leaders will move to Madrid for a summit of NATO leaders, where fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will again dominate the agenda. All G-7 members other than Japan are NATO members, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been invited to Madrid.
Zelenskyy has openly worried that the West has become fatigued by the cost of a war that is contributing to soaring energy costs and price hikes on essential goods around the globe. The G-7 has sought to assuage those concerns.
While the group’s annual gathering has been dominated by Ukraine and by the war’s knock-on effects, such as the challenge to food supplies in parts of the world caused by the interruption of Ukrainian grain exports, Scholz has been keen to show that the G-7 also can move ahead on pre-war priorities. Members of the Group of Seven major economies pledged Tuesday to create a new climate club for nations that want to take more ambitious action to tackle global warming.
The move, championed by Scholz, will see countries that join the club agree on tougher measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) this century compared with pre-industrial times. Countries that are part of the club will try to harmonise their measures in such a way that they are comparable and avoid members imposing climate-related tariffs on each others’ imports. Speaking at the end of the three-day summit in Elmau, Germany, Scholz said the aim was to “ensure that protecting the climate is a competitive advantage, not a disadvantage”. He said details of the planned climate club would be finalised this year. Source: AP
Modi lavishes gifts for G7 leaders
Gulabi Meenakari brooch, cufflink, Black Pottery, Platinum painted hand painted Tea Set, and Zari Zardozi box were among the few specialised items gifted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Group of Seven leaders during his two-day visit to Germany. PM Modi was the senior most global leader holding country’s top office at the G7 summit and carried special gifts for all the leaders made under UP one district one product scheme. He has already attended three G7 summits on invitation, highlighting India importance in global scheme of things.
PM Modi gifted US President Joe Biden Gulabi Meenakari brooch, a piece of pure silver which is moulded into a base form, and the chosen design is embossed in the metal. It is a GI tagged art-form of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The cufflinks were prepared for Biden with a matching brooch for the First Lady, Jill Biden. French President Emmanuel Macron received a carrier box crafted in Lucknow. The Zari Zardozi box was hand embroidered on khadi silk and satin tissue in the three colours of the French National Flag, which has its origin in the French Revolution. The box included Attar Mitti – a unique attar produced in UP’s Kannauj – Jasmine Oil, Attar Shamama, Attar Gulab, Exotic Musk, and Garam Masala.
Prime Minister Modi gifted platinum painted hand painted tea set from Bulandhshahr district to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. According to Prime Minister’s Office, the crockery has been outlined with platinum metal paint in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee being celebrated this year.
Source: HT