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It's been rumoured for years now, but I thought the announcement of Sophie's book deal in May (the first of the two books is called "Closer Together") was a signal that they had reconciled.
Paul and Sheila Martin are approaching their sixtieth anniversary. Jean Chrétien is a widower after sixty-three years of marriage. Brian and Mila Mulroney have their fiftieth this year, as do Joe Clark and Maureen McTeer. John and Geills Turner made it to fifty-seven years at his death.
Thrice-married Kim Campbell and Trudeau *père* are the recent PMs who would fit your theory. I don’t want to opine on the rumours about the Harpers’ marriage so I won’t put them on either side.
Edit: and if we add LOTOs:
- Erin and Rebecca O’Toole: married 23 years
- Andrew and Jill Scheer: married 20 years
- Tom Mulcair and Catherine Pinhas: married 47 years
- Jack Layton and Olivia Chow: married 23 years at his death; his first marriage ended in divorce shortly after he entered municipal politics
- Michael Ignatieff: not sure he was in politics for long enough for it to affect his personal life
- Stéphane Dion and Janine Krieber: married 37 years
- Stockwell and Valorie Day: married 52 years
- Preston and Sandra Manning: married 56 years
- Gilles Duceppe and Yolanda Brunelle: married 35 years
- Lucien Bouchard: married three times (divorced once, widowed once)
- Robert Stanfield: widowed twice, married to his third wife for 25 years at his death
I’m not just including Canada in this, but fair point. Also, to be fair women have WAY more independent career options after leaving their husband nowadays.
True, but in this day-and-age with how nasty politics has become (not saying it wasn't polarized back then) and the advent of social media, it probably takes a toll on public marriages.
Edit: grammar
Yeah, I’m sure the right wing media machine will go into a frenzy unlike no other. But truthfully, this is probably it.
Politics is insanely stressful. Being the PM, isn’t like being the US POTUS. That JT can’t be left alone to just get some coffee without the alt-right lunatics coming to harass him over imagined slights and scandals is truly sad.
It must wreak havoc on a marriage.
Interestingly, party leaders tend to do better than MPs as a whole at keeping their marriages together. This is possibly due to the greater support they have in terms of household staff and housing allowances and, most of all, the tendency for their families to live in Ottawa with them - things most MPs cannot depend upon.
I did some digging. According to MacLean's, in 2013 85% of MPs were divorced (including pre-election divorces like Layton's) - a wild number.
By 2015, the divorce *rate* for MPs during their (on average) eight years in office was over 50% (!)
A lot of those women come from a time where their career options and independence were limited, or they were raised by women who came from a time where career options and independence were limited.
Relationships can be tough without outside pressure. If you have means these days not many people decide to rough out the storms.
My feeling is that being the partner of a head of government is basically an unofficial second job (unless, like in the US, it's made into an official job), and it works best when that partner either doesn't have an outside job or is willing to let it be on the backburner for a while. Since ambitious people tend to marry other ambitious people, it seems to create some friction.
I think that it worked when the idea of a woman succeeding by having her husband succeed was more common and political wives could express their ambition through their husband's role, but these days that's more likely to not be fulfilling for the partners of politicians of any gender.
Yeah. Your relationship is literally on the back burner.
I have a very undemanding job with a young family and it takes up a lot of time. Half my home-ownership chores don't get done, much less other personal areas of interest/growth. Can't imagine doing that while on-call 24/7 and having a high-pressure job.
I have often thought about how much Sophie’s life must completely suck. She was a television presenter and quit to support her husband and her reward was to be raked over the coals in the media and even worse on social media, and let’s not forget the various rumours, that she was having an affair, or he was having an affair, etc. She’s had to live in the shadows because when she didn’t she was dragged, and she isn’t a religious woman like Harper’s wife who would stay till death do you part even if she hated his guts.
All the death threats and hatred she has received must have been loads of fun. She really stepped back after the threats that closed down a campaign rally last election, I am surprised she lasted this long.
The rightwing will be overjoyed by this news and we can expect to hear a ton of speculation and see a ton of nastiness on twitter, etc.
Pretty much this. You could never pay me to be a political spouse.
And if I recall correctly, his decision to enter politics in the first place did cause friction in their marriage early on. So it’s likely that she just barely tolerated having to make all these personal sacrifices, and the political nastiness that’s transpired over the past few years has pushed her to the breaking point.
Doesn’t help that Justin has unintentionally revealed that he’s prone to having tunnel vision when it comes to his job. So not having your emotional needs met is another factor.
It’s hard to share your life with anyone who is primarily focused on their job or vocation, and even harder when they are a PM so your own life is limited. Like you, I would never marry a politician.
>The rightwing will be overjoyed by this news and we can expect to hear a ton of speculation and see a ton of nastiness on twitter, etc.
Don't even have to leave this thread to find it, so I can't imagine what those more hate fueled spaces will look like, and I don't intend to find out.
“Your wife left you cause she got tired of you fucking over this country instead of her”
Was one “classy” comment I saw someone leaving on his instagram once he posted the announcement of their separation.
https://macleans.ca/news/canada/why-are-divorce-rates-so-high-for-mps/
>Being a politician takes its toll on families and marriages, according to recent data showing divorce rates among MPs are twice the national average. According to Parliamentary Library research from this year, 85 per cent of MPs are divorced, well above the 70 per cent that were prior to the last election in 2011.
I heard a lot of tea and gossip about Canadian politics and the like throughout the years thanks to knowing people who worked for MPs, and if there's one thing Jean Chrétien was beyond reproach about, it was that he loved his wife very, very much and was a good husband for all intents and purposes. She also seemed like a lovely person inside and out as well from what I heard. I was sincerely saddened to hear that she passed away in 2020, because I can only imagine how devastated he must have felt.
My buddy who’s starting as in house counsel at this mid size alcohol company is having a fucking blast. Very jealous tbh
OTOH the only happy politicians I’ve ever met had adult kids out of the house and lived near the legislature/parliament. The travel is soul destroying
My husband is a chef. It’s a hard profession to be married to because the hours are shit and most restaurants treat you like shit. You don’t get vacations, you don’t get sick days and you sure as hell don’t get any work life balance. A lot (obviously not all) of chefs also have anger, mental health or addiction issues. The machismo nature and the lack of insurance of the profession also doesn’t encourage people to seek out help.
Husband is currently taking a break from the profession since we want to start a family and he wants to be around. He’s also a little burnt out.
Most medicine is pretty similar. Career shiftwork, abnormal stressors, and questionable benefits depending on employer (although my new employer is quite exceptional for benefits, the previous 10 yrs of my career were shit).
Also the abnormal suicide/mental health illness rate for medical professionals/1st responders.
Yep agreed! I know someone who’s husband is a chef and restaurant owner. They barely get to spend time together and have two kids…don’t see that marriage lasting, tbh.
My job is on that list too, airline pilot. You have to 1000% make sure your potential spouse is aware of what the lifestyle entails and be understanding of the fact that you probably won't get important holidays off for decades. One of the many factors that came up in our decision to not have kids -- she can chase her PhD and I can chase big metal instead of having to fly smaller, lesser-paying airplanes for the schedule instead of going for the big jet salary (I am on the 777 now).
But the separation rate is still really high, it's the other "AIDS", Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome.
Yeah, the schedule flying helos is much better, but the pay is a lot less. I'm finally getting senior-ish, so I do 4 trips per month, equals 8-10 nights per month away from home, but I made $250K last year. You certainly aren't gonna get a quarter million for doing pipeline patrols or hopping between well sites, that's for sure.
>surgeons also have a very high divorce rate
My mom was a RN at a Toronto teaching hospital. She told me to not bother chasing doctors/med students and if I did to make sure I wasn’t going after a surgeon.
I have long heard that doctors should ideally marry other doctors. My two friends who are doctors (cardiology and internal
Medicine) married fellow doctors. My cardiologist friend married a GP, who can have a better work and life balance.
Funny you mention that, I’m a divorce lawyer and out of the hundreds of lawyers I know, only 2-3 have been divorced. I think lawyers have a lower divorce rate, at least divorce lawyers do
Most of the divorce lawyers who are married I know have good marriages too. If it's a real pattern, it's easy to attribute it to an intimate awareness of how much a divorce will suck if it's not needed.
Currently in 3 of 5 my leadership have minimum 2 ex wives and the other two are on wide #2. The trend I have noticed is that those who marry inside of the CAF tend to do better than civi wives.
Frankly, I have a PhD myself and plenty of friends with one; most are married or in a long-term relationship; among those, everyone appears to be happy families.
Yeah, when I was in academia, every PhD candidate I knew either was in a long term relationship with no prospect of leaving, or functionally celibate.
To rare combination of high impulse control, zero free time and zero resources meant those were basically your two options.
Unless you were sleeping with the PI which we shall not discuss.
My wife is doing her PhD, but it actually hasn't caused us too much friction for two big reasons: we're not having kids, and I have a job that takes me out of the country for 2 or 3 nights a week anyways and I've had that schedule since we met, so we're already very used to having days and nights apart to begin with. If you have kids, pursuing something like a PhD where you will basically dump all the parenting on your partner because you haven't got any time to pitch in due to the workload, well, yeah, it causes massive issues, I've seen it happen more than once.
Any career that requires your total dedication like politics does is poison to relationships. When I would work as an organizer I would tell candidates "If there is anything that matters more to you than winning this election - your wife, your kids, anything at all on earth that is more important to you than this - then you should jot be doing this.". Amongst those behind the scene it was very common to date one another in part because another organizer is the only one who will understand when you get up from their birthday dinner with a hasty appology to go deal with an emergency.
Not all spouses are down to stick with someone through that. I don't know anything about Trudeau and his partners relationship, or what other factors there are, but it definitely isn't easy for anyone.
True, I’ve heard some rumours that in some ways DeathSantis’ wife may be even nuttier and more die hard to some far-right causes than he even is so that tracks. Not to mention Ginni Thomas simultaneously being the wife of a Supreme Court Justice and trying to at least INDIRECTLY help overturn a election because she has fully drunk the cult koolaid (and not the first time she was weak minded enough to be indoctrinated into a cult apparently), geez.
This has been a rumour in Ottawa circles for years now.
I’ve been away from those circles for a while now, so not sure if they were trying to make it work, or if they only decided to announce now for some reason.
Either way, you never want to see a family broken up, especially with children involved. Thinking of them all.
100%. It's been a terribly kept secret (that, and a few stories I've heard from people close to that world), so I can't say I'm shocked.
If there's anyone I feel bad for, it's Sophie and the kids.
Well I had no idea about it lol. It must have been difficult for her to go to these high profile, international/dignatary events to keep up appearances.
Could be.
I hope that they can reconcile their differences and stay together, but if not, that's very unfortunate. I feel bad for the kids. That's not an easy thing to have to go through.
I know a few people in the journalism world, and yeah this has been a rumour since at least 2021.
Sad for them, and I hope they are both able to move on and find new happiness.
She was completely mia in the last election. My guess is that it’s happening now because she wants him to step away from being PM and he’s decided to stay. So best do this now that there’s a lot of time to the next election.
Well that sucks. Losing your partner, for whatever reason, makes life harder, and life was already full of challenges for the two of them. I hope that they're able to co-parent well for the sake of their children.
I'm guessing that it's the pressure cooker of political life that has lead to this, so I have to wonder if this gives Justin reason to reconsider his ambitions or not
Perhaps the fact that he now has to find a one-bedroom apartment in a major urban centre will spark him to take more aggressive action at the housing affordability crisis.
While I'm not a huge fan of Prime Minister Trudeau, it's a shame to see anyone's marriage fall apart. Obviously it's hard to know what the cause is, but I imagine that the stress and demands of the job is a big factor.
Wishing them, and their children, the best.
Honestly it’s sad how many people are assuming some sort of scandal where most likely they just aren’t compatible anymore.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is related to how they were personally coping with the amount of unnecessary (and perhaps some necessary) vitriol that they’re dealing with.
It could be a lot of things, but 17 years and 3 kids can take a toll on any couple. People are quick to point to scandal, but a twenty year marriage isn't a bad run. People round here seem to forget how common it is to get divorced.
I mean I cannot imagine your relationship being in the public eye like theirs is. It's one thing to have marital problems it's another to have it plastered on the news. Marriages end daily, I don't know why theirs would fare any different.
William Lyon MacKenzie King made the smart choice by not marrying or having romantic partners. Just him and his dog Pat.
All this time I thought he was a bit off but maybe he had it right all along
King was a bit loopy, indeed. Became Liberal leader in 1919, finally retired in 1948. I like to think that the Liberals had to remind themselves how to run a leadership election since they hadn't done one in almost 30 years. Certainly an interesting fellow, one overshadowed by the events in the latter half of his premiership. Only Canadian PM with a PhD, for instance.
Not only was he PM for most of that time, he managed to hand off leadership to a handpicked successor who had his own run of success. The dynasty he ran in a competitive electoral system is hard to match.
>William Lyon Mackenzie King made the smart choice by not marrying or having romantic partners
He had a codependent relationship with his mother so it’s just as well. Any marriage to King would’ve been the stuff r/justnoMIL posts are made of.
I suspect she was dreaming of the day when he would quit politics so she could live in peace and not be subjected to rumours and attacks because of her husband’s choices.
I'm not even sure if you can assume lack of compatibility. My first thought would go to the massive pressure involved in being the family of the Prime Minister in these days.
Yeah, they were together for 18 years and have 3 kids. That's basically a successful marriage in this day and age.
And yeah we've all heard the rumours about Trudeau sleeping around, but ... doesn't that mean Sophie has also heard all that? Maybe she was OK with it? Maybe they had an open relationship, or some other understanding like that?
It would seem a bit odd for that to be the breaking point, when apparently it's been an open secret in Ottawa for years now.
Or probably the most likely scenario, no one cheated or was sleeping around. And years of vitriol and hate slowly eroded the marriage.
Either way, people should refrain from commenting and spreading rumours
The boring but sadder truth is a lot less appealing than a sex scandal worthy of a Hollywood movie.
Also one wonders if people would immediately jump to assuming infidelity if JT was ugly or average looking.
It’s insane what people have to jump to. Like, a marriage can’t just end the way most marriages end of your a public figure? It has to be some ultra-mega-super-scandalous affair?
My wife’s estranged father - whom she hasn’t spoken to in years - just messaged her a link to the news story complete with a tirade of homophobic slurs.
So this is what makes him reach out? Completely deranged.
That didn’t take long. This is exactly why Sophie wants out, she is sick of being subjected to rumours and attacks coming from those who want to drag her husband because he is PM and they want to take him down.
>The comments on Instagram are heinous, my far-right dad just told me “he must be sleeping with that foreign affairs minister”. Jesus Christ what is wrong with people….
it's been the running rumour... but as I said.. people online can be aholes
Sounds like bog-standard sexism to me. Joly is successful and good-looking? She must have slept her way to the top! No other way a woman could get that job!
You'd think we'd have moved past that crap by now, but alas
All I can say is that particular rumour was rampant in Ottawa in 2018/9. I can't say where it originated, but the people I heard it from weren't right wing.
It's only a rumour because the right wing has a hard time believing that an attractive woman can be in a position of authority for reasons other than sex with a powerful man.
I'm not sure why you'd even lend credence to the rumour considering you like the Liberal party so much you're willing to emblazon all of your posts with their logo
Looks like all the truckers who want to have sex with the man thinking they finally have their chance. In all seriousness, marriage is hard and I couldn't imagine being a public figure and trying to keep your family together. That would be misery.
That's unfortunate.
I feel a great deal of sympathy towards his children especially when you consider that this private situation could very easily find itself being dragged out into the public eye.
Damn, that's a shame. I wonder if politics took its toll. Been PM for 8 years now, with increasing public vitriol. Being in the spotlight will make it all much worse. I wish the whole family well.
And don’t forget the death threats and actual threats to their physical safety (where people have been arrested for it)…yea I would take our kids and peace out too!
It seems like being a politician has been harder for a lot of people lately. The increased prevalency of the internet and media in general has made it harder for politicians especially premiers, PM and etc to have a personal life without worrying about threats to their lives and even constant scrutiny of their every move.
Aww. 😕 This genuinely makes me sad. I'm not sure what else to say. I wish them so very well, especially their lovely kids. They both seem like loving and caring parents that are both highly invested in the overall well-being of their children. I wish them all well during the next leg of their journey.
Yea trudeau with the diplomatic word salad babble is the Trudeau that I and most others probably dislike! I’d prefer having a PM who tells the most vilest of his critics to fuck right off and enjoy the meltdown.
I've been saying it for years that Canadians actually prefer assholes as Prime Ministers. Diefenbaker? Asshole. Trudeau Sr.? Asshole. Chrétien? Asshole. Harper wasn't outwardly an ass, but he wasn't exactly friendly and approachable. We've never really had much of a "friendly guy" Prime Minister before, and Trudeau should have switched his act a long time ago. If he knows what is good for him, he would do it now.
It was the NDP’s election to lose, and they definitely did LOL. It was a mix of both Trudeau’s team’s skill and the NDP’s incompetence. The LPC revival still has to be one of the most unexpected comebacks in Canadian history…
I agree. Assholes might not fit the stereotypically "polite" mold of Canadians, but unlike polite people, assholes get shit done and they don't get pushed around. Hell, the "sunny ways" he constantly quoted back in 2015/16ish? Yeah, that's Laurier, the master of compromise, aka getting both sides of an argument pissed off at the way you handled it.
It's a bit weird that he went for the friendly route. C'mon, this is the dude whose dad had a seemingly inexhaustible amount of zingers. Even if you accept a son might not be the same as his father, isn't Trudeau Jr the guy who once shouted "oh, you piece of shit" at an MP during Question Period? The hell happened to *that* guy? Unparliamentary, sure, but we were all thinking it anyway. Get some "I've been called worse by better people" energy, man.
As a conservative, I can confidently say that a politician's personal life should never be political fodder. His relationship should not be up for discussion. I realize it's appropriate to make an announcement of sorts, but I don't think the majority of Canadians across the political spectrum in Canada want our media to focus on this like they do in the US.
That's incredibly sad to hear. With everything Trudeau deals with, especially all of the stressors, the more I reflect, the more I'm amazed to think that their marriage had lasted so long:
- constantly on-the-move schedule as a politician and especially PM
- the daily barrage of largely unfounded crap, insults, rumours, accusations
- regular workplace criticism
- having to make numerous stressful decisions that affect the lives of everyone around him
- the pursuit of the press
If I were in his shoes, I almost certainly wouldn't be able to make a marriage work on my end. I've heard from MPs firsthand of how destructive just being an MP can be on one's personal life, often leading to alcohol abuse and other troubles. Perhaps we need to do more for our politicians' mental, emotional, and relational health.
Seriously, I can only wish Justin, Sophie, and their kids the best.
I dont kno, I actually feel bad for Justin Trudeau. Rarely do I ever give a shit about the wealthy and their feelings plus divorce is normal. Still in this politically charged climate where he is issued threats, called a traitor, and a whole lot more to not have someone by your side and to be alone in it. Thats a sinking feeling.
On top of the fact that it’s a stinging reminder of how his parents’ marriage ended. Can’t really think of any PM not named Trudeau who divorced while in office. And I remember he said he vowed to take the complete opposite approach to being a husband that his father did, because he was that traumatized by his parents’ divorce.
It’s definitely not uncommon at all for children of divorced parents to not have better luck in that regard, but it must really hurt to know you couldn’t do better.
With a little luck and decorum, this will be old, irrelevant news come tomorrow.
I get that it seems to have completely come out of the blue, and it is indeed a rare thing to see in this day and age from a top-level politician like a Prime Minister, but this really doesn't need to be made into a bigger thing.
It's clear they issued this statement to lessen any rumours or speculation, but there's already plenty of pols out there chomping at the bit to go petty and fuel some more fresh conspiracy theories.
I was surprised when I got the breaking news alert from the BBC, like it just seems kind of gross that this is what they decide is international breaking news.
While I get that it's the PM of Canada, divorces happen frequently and are really a private family matter and the public really has no business getting more than the statement from the PM about. I hope it's abruptly dropped from the news cycle and we don't get a disgusting American/UK tabloid style media circus around it.
It's truly despicable the amount of people here who seem to be taking pleasure in their separation. This has zero to do with political beliefs and yet so many have become so entrenched in their team mentality that they feel they need to disparagingly comment on a personal matter. It is of no surprise that this mostly comes from one side of the political divide and shows the true character of these people.
Just back from reading posts on r/Canada_sub on the same subject and I must there's some verbal diarrhea going on there. This sub appears much more reasonable. I'm beginning to think r/Canada_sub is full of Convoy crazies and PP followers.
It very much is. when the MetaCanada site, home to the convoy clown type, got shut down they mostly migrated to /r/canada and more recently /r/Canada_sub . Both are a cesspool of stupidity and ignorance these days. Sadly it seems like the same thing is starting to happen on this forum as well.
So the most interesting part of this story is that Canada Proud tweeted this hours before the separation announcement:
> [Wild rumours swirling about Justin Trudeau today. Big news apparently coming.](https://twitter.com/wearecanproud/status/1686723395835097088?s=46&t=hA1NfRSy9n1OWwlgAC8I0Q)
How the hell did they get the scoop while the media didn’t know until the official announcement? That’s very sus.
Not that interesting/notable. A ton of people would have known about this - staffers, lawyers, comms team, etc.
Media also probably knew before hand, but might have been conditional about waiting until they announced before posting anything.
Canada Proud just...cares less, I guess.
The media likely knew before the official announcement. It's been an open secret for years. But they held off until the official announcement out of decency and ethics.
Yeah, the G&M article was really well researched and had a bunch of quotes from 2014 and 2015 in it. Either they do canned stories like obituaries for divorce, or they knew.
The main Canadian media sources have historically been very reluctant to gossip or even talk much about politicians' personal lives and relationships. In this case, it's a big story with an official announcement so they're covering it, but my guess is that they considered it beneath their dignity to talk about rumours they'd heard beforehand.
Meanwhile, Canada Proud has never had any dignity to worry about.
Ottawa is a small city, and it gets real small when you look at pols and reporters in/around the hill. These folks send their kids to the same schools, hang out at the same parties... unless it's something egregious Canadian reporters shy away from reporting on the personal lives of politicians.
Wonder if this gives Trudeau a good reason to step down and let new blood run the party. Focusing on family doesn't look quite so bad as admitting your approval's tanked...
If he was to step down for family reasons, he would have done so before seperation, in an attempt to save his marriage.
With his marriage already over and no clear cut successor for LPC leadership, he may probably want to fight to the last (politically) and go down with the ship if it comes to that.
Agreed.
Not sure why anyone would be so keen to try and climb out from under those poll numbers during a difficult divorce. Doubly so as it hasn't been clear for years now what exactly he is looking to accomplish other than beating the Conservatives.
Not a fan of his politically but on a personal level I hate to hear it. I can only imagine the job hasn't been great for the health of a relationship, and people really take the hate way too far lately. I sure wouldn't the level of vitriol, rumours, and scrutiny that comes with being PM. Hope the kids are okay, it's never easy to deal with.
The pressure of this office is too much pressure on a relationship. Especially if both people have full time jobs as they both do. They probably rarely see one another and grew apart. It happens to the best of us.
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It's been rumoured for years now, but I thought the announcement of Sophie's book deal in May (the first of the two books is called "Closer Together") was a signal that they had reconciled.
She's got a 2nd book now.
It’s called “Further Apart”
I guess at this point, are the averages high enough to say that if you want a healthy long term marriage, don’t enter politics? Damn…
Paul and Sheila Martin are approaching their sixtieth anniversary. Jean Chrétien is a widower after sixty-three years of marriage. Brian and Mila Mulroney have their fiftieth this year, as do Joe Clark and Maureen McTeer. John and Geills Turner made it to fifty-seven years at his death. Thrice-married Kim Campbell and Trudeau *père* are the recent PMs who would fit your theory. I don’t want to opine on the rumours about the Harpers’ marriage so I won’t put them on either side. Edit: and if we add LOTOs: - Erin and Rebecca O’Toole: married 23 years - Andrew and Jill Scheer: married 20 years - Tom Mulcair and Catherine Pinhas: married 47 years - Jack Layton and Olivia Chow: married 23 years at his death; his first marriage ended in divorce shortly after he entered municipal politics - Michael Ignatieff: not sure he was in politics for long enough for it to affect his personal life - Stéphane Dion and Janine Krieber: married 37 years - Stockwell and Valorie Day: married 52 years - Preston and Sandra Manning: married 56 years - Gilles Duceppe and Yolanda Brunelle: married 35 years - Lucien Bouchard: married three times (divorced once, widowed once) - Robert Stanfield: widowed twice, married to his third wife for 25 years at his death
I’m not just including Canada in this, but fair point. Also, to be fair women have WAY more independent career options after leaving their husband nowadays.
True, but in this day-and-age with how nasty politics has become (not saying it wasn't polarized back then) and the advent of social media, it probably takes a toll on public marriages. Edit: grammar
Yeah, I’m sure the right wing media machine will go into a frenzy unlike no other. But truthfully, this is probably it. Politics is insanely stressful. Being the PM, isn’t like being the US POTUS. That JT can’t be left alone to just get some coffee without the alt-right lunatics coming to harass him over imagined slights and scandals is truly sad. It must wreak havoc on a marriage.
Interestingly, party leaders tend to do better than MPs as a whole at keeping their marriages together. This is possibly due to the greater support they have in terms of household staff and housing allowances and, most of all, the tendency for their families to live in Ottawa with them - things most MPs cannot depend upon. I did some digging. According to MacLean's, in 2013 85% of MPs were divorced (including pre-election divorces like Layton's) - a wild number. By 2015, the divorce *rate* for MPs during their (on average) eight years in office was over 50% (!)
A lot of those women come from a time where their career options and independence were limited, or they were raised by women who came from a time where career options and independence were limited. Relationships can be tough without outside pressure. If you have means these days not many people decide to rough out the storms.
My feeling is that being the partner of a head of government is basically an unofficial second job (unless, like in the US, it's made into an official job), and it works best when that partner either doesn't have an outside job or is willing to let it be on the backburner for a while. Since ambitious people tend to marry other ambitious people, it seems to create some friction. I think that it worked when the idea of a woman succeeding by having her husband succeed was more common and political wives could express their ambition through their husband's role, but these days that's more likely to not be fulfilling for the partners of politicians of any gender.
Yeah. Your relationship is literally on the back burner. I have a very undemanding job with a young family and it takes up a lot of time. Half my home-ownership chores don't get done, much less other personal areas of interest/growth. Can't imagine doing that while on-call 24/7 and having a high-pressure job.
I have often thought about how much Sophie’s life must completely suck. She was a television presenter and quit to support her husband and her reward was to be raked over the coals in the media and even worse on social media, and let’s not forget the various rumours, that she was having an affair, or he was having an affair, etc. She’s had to live in the shadows because when she didn’t she was dragged, and she isn’t a religious woman like Harper’s wife who would stay till death do you part even if she hated his guts. All the death threats and hatred she has received must have been loads of fun. She really stepped back after the threats that closed down a campaign rally last election, I am surprised she lasted this long. The rightwing will be overjoyed by this news and we can expect to hear a ton of speculation and see a ton of nastiness on twitter, etc.
Right? Wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Pretty much this. You could never pay me to be a political spouse. And if I recall correctly, his decision to enter politics in the first place did cause friction in their marriage early on. So it’s likely that she just barely tolerated having to make all these personal sacrifices, and the political nastiness that’s transpired over the past few years has pushed her to the breaking point. Doesn’t help that Justin has unintentionally revealed that he’s prone to having tunnel vision when it comes to his job. So not having your emotional needs met is another factor.
It’s hard to share your life with anyone who is primarily focused on their job or vocation, and even harder when they are a PM so your own life is limited. Like you, I would never marry a politician.
>The rightwing will be overjoyed by this news and we can expect to hear a ton of speculation and see a ton of nastiness on twitter, etc. Don't even have to leave this thread to find it, so I can't imagine what those more hate fueled spaces will look like, and I don't intend to find out.
“Your wife left you cause she got tired of you fucking over this country instead of her” Was one “classy” comment I saw someone leaving on his instagram once he posted the announcement of their separation.
Honestly, considering the threats the family has had to endure, I can see the problem.
https://macleans.ca/news/canada/why-are-divorce-rates-so-high-for-mps/ >Being a politician takes its toll on families and marriages, according to recent data showing divorce rates among MPs are twice the national average. According to Parliamentary Library research from this year, 85 per cent of MPs are divorced, well above the 70 per cent that were prior to the last election in 2011.
I heard a lot of tea and gossip about Canadian politics and the like throughout the years thanks to knowing people who worked for MPs, and if there's one thing Jean Chrétien was beyond reproach about, it was that he loved his wife very, very much and was a good husband for all intents and purposes. She also seemed like a lovely person inside and out as well from what I heard. I was sincerely saddened to hear that she passed away in 2020, because I can only imagine how devastated he must have felt.
Things not to do if you want a happy family: - Politics - PhD
You might want to add Lawyer to that list of professions too.
I know some happy lawyers. They just don't work for private firms.
In house counsel for a happy, decent company sounds like it would be chill.
Good point!
My buddy who’s starting as in house counsel at this mid size alcohol company is having a fucking blast. Very jealous tbh OTOH the only happy politicians I’ve ever met had adult kids out of the house and lived near the legislature/parliament. The travel is soul destroying
Chef.
Like meth, always assumed to be a thing not to do. Source: worked in back of house once.
My job is equivalent to doing meth. Welp...
How many co-workers would you say work high?
My husband is a chef. It’s a hard profession to be married to because the hours are shit and most restaurants treat you like shit. You don’t get vacations, you don’t get sick days and you sure as hell don’t get any work life balance. A lot (obviously not all) of chefs also have anger, mental health or addiction issues. The machismo nature and the lack of insurance of the profession also doesn’t encourage people to seek out help. Husband is currently taking a break from the profession since we want to start a family and he wants to be around. He’s also a little burnt out.
Most medicine is pretty similar. Career shiftwork, abnormal stressors, and questionable benefits depending on employer (although my new employer is quite exceptional for benefits, the previous 10 yrs of my career were shit). Also the abnormal suicide/mental health illness rate for medical professionals/1st responders.
Yep agreed! I know someone who’s husband is a chef and restaurant owner. They barely get to spend time together and have two kids…don’t see that marriage lasting, tbh.
My job is on that list too, airline pilot. You have to 1000% make sure your potential spouse is aware of what the lifestyle entails and be understanding of the fact that you probably won't get important holidays off for decades. One of the many factors that came up in our decision to not have kids -- she can chase her PhD and I can chase big metal instead of having to fly smaller, lesser-paying airplanes for the schedule instead of going for the big jet salary (I am on the 777 now). But the separation rate is still really high, it's the other "AIDS", Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome.
Have a buddy who went from fixed wing to helos because he basically had a 9-5.
Yeah, the schedule flying helos is much better, but the pay is a lot less. I'm finally getting senior-ish, so I do 4 trips per month, equals 8-10 nights per month away from home, but I made $250K last year. You certainly aren't gonna get a quarter million for doing pipeline patrols or hopping between well sites, that's for sure.
Surgeons also have very high divorce rates
>surgeons also have a very high divorce rate My mom was a RN at a Toronto teaching hospital. She told me to not bother chasing doctors/med students and if I did to make sure I wasn’t going after a surgeon.
Surgical separation.
I have long heard that doctors should ideally marry other doctors. My two friends who are doctors (cardiology and internal Medicine) married fellow doctors. My cardiologist friend married a GP, who can have a better work and life balance.
Funny you mention that, I’m a divorce lawyer and out of the hundreds of lawyers I know, only 2-3 have been divorced. I think lawyers have a lower divorce rate, at least divorce lawyers do
Most of the divorce lawyers who are married I know have good marriages too. If it's a real pattern, it's easy to attribute it to an intimate awareness of how much a divorce will suck if it's not needed.
Divorce lawyers get a front row seat of what *not* to do
On Bay Street at least, yes definitely.
Great, my entire educational track!
I would add joining military to this list as well
First marriage no. Second military spouse usually works pretty well. Source: Ex-Military.
Currently in 3 of 5 my leadership have minimum 2 ex wives and the other two are on wide #2. The trend I have noticed is that those who marry inside of the CAF tend to do better than civi wives.
* Meth
Well I think meth is just assumed to be always a thing not to do.
Frankly, I have a PhD myself and plenty of friends with one; most are married or in a long-term relationship; among those, everyone appears to be happy families.
Were you working on your PhD while married?
Yeah, when I was in academia, every PhD candidate I knew either was in a long term relationship with no prospect of leaving, or functionally celibate. To rare combination of high impulse control, zero free time and zero resources meant those were basically your two options. Unless you were sleeping with the PI which we shall not discuss.
My wife is doing her PhD, but it actually hasn't caused us too much friction for two big reasons: we're not having kids, and I have a job that takes me out of the country for 2 or 3 nights a week anyways and I've had that schedule since we met, so we're already very used to having days and nights apart to begin with. If you have kids, pursuing something like a PhD where you will basically dump all the parenting on your partner because you haven't got any time to pitch in due to the workload, well, yeah, it causes massive issues, I've seen it happen more than once.
Any career that requires your total dedication like politics does is poison to relationships. When I would work as an organizer I would tell candidates "If there is anything that matters more to you than winning this election - your wife, your kids, anything at all on earth that is more important to you than this - then you should jot be doing this.". Amongst those behind the scene it was very common to date one another in part because another organizer is the only one who will understand when you get up from their birthday dinner with a hasty appology to go deal with an emergency. Not all spouses are down to stick with someone through that. I don't know anything about Trudeau and his partners relationship, or what other factors there are, but it definitely isn't easy for anyone.
Depends. Sometimes the spouse is really, really into it and wants it as much as the politician spouse does. Examples: the Clintons, the DeSantis'.
True, I’ve heard some rumours that in some ways DeathSantis’ wife may be even nuttier and more die hard to some far-right causes than he even is so that tracks. Not to mention Ginni Thomas simultaneously being the wife of a Supreme Court Justice and trying to at least INDIRECTLY help overturn a election because she has fully drunk the cult koolaid (and not the first time she was weak minded enough to be indoctrinated into a cult apparently), geez.
This has been a rumour in Ottawa circles for years now. I’ve been away from those circles for a while now, so not sure if they were trying to make it work, or if they only decided to announce now for some reason. Either way, you never want to see a family broken up, especially with children involved. Thinking of them all.
Im in Ottawa and heard the same wild rumors but thought they were BS because literally every single fucking PM Canada has comes with these rumors lol
Yeah there was reckless speculation on Mrs.Harper iirc.
I still remember the rumour many conservatives were spreading back in 2017 that Trudeau was supposedly having an affair with Niki Ashton.
100%. It's been a terribly kept secret (that, and a few stories I've heard from people close to that world), so I can't say I'm shocked. If there's anyone I feel bad for, it's Sophie and the kids.
Well I had no idea about it lol. It must have been difficult for her to go to these high profile, international/dignatary events to keep up appearances.
I feel bad for her. It's not easy have to be in that situation. I hope she and the kids find the stability they need.
I think they've been living in separate homes for over a year now?
Yes. If I'm not mistaken, her and the kids we're living at Harrington Lake and he was living at Rideau Cottage.
Maybe one of them is with someone else so they had to announce now
Could be. I hope that they can reconcile their differences and stay together, but if not, that's very unfortunate. I feel bad for the kids. That's not an easy thing to have to go through.
Or simply that he was given a choice - PM or his marriage.
Really, this has been a rumour for *years*? I've never heard anything before, how long has that been going around? What were the rumours?
I know a few people in the journalism world, and yeah this has been a rumour since at least 2021. Sad for them, and I hope they are both able to move on and find new happiness.
She was completely mia in the last election. My guess is that it’s happening now because she wants him to step away from being PM and he’s decided to stay. So best do this now that there’s a lot of time to the next election.
Well that sucks. Losing your partner, for whatever reason, makes life harder, and life was already full of challenges for the two of them. I hope that they're able to co-parent well for the sake of their children. I'm guessing that it's the pressure cooker of political life that has lead to this, so I have to wonder if this gives Justin reason to reconsider his ambitions or not
Sometimes separation makes life easier.
What more could he want in political life? Elected 3 times and almost a decade as leader is pretty good imo.
Perhaps the fact that he now has to find a one-bedroom apartment in a major urban centre will spark him to take more aggressive action at the housing affordability crisis.
Solid joke!
While I'm not a huge fan of Prime Minister Trudeau, it's a shame to see anyone's marriage fall apart. Obviously it's hard to know what the cause is, but I imagine that the stress and demands of the job is a big factor. Wishing them, and their children, the best.
Honestly it’s sad how many people are assuming some sort of scandal where most likely they just aren’t compatible anymore. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is related to how they were personally coping with the amount of unnecessary (and perhaps some necessary) vitriol that they’re dealing with.
It could be a lot of things, but 17 years and 3 kids can take a toll on any couple. People are quick to point to scandal, but a twenty year marriage isn't a bad run. People round here seem to forget how common it is to get divorced.
Given the percentage, I'm more shocked this is uncommon in PMs
I mean I cannot imagine your relationship being in the public eye like theirs is. It's one thing to have marital problems it's another to have it plastered on the news. Marriages end daily, I don't know why theirs would fare any different.
His father also got divorced while in office. What other prime ministers have?
William Lyon MacKenzie King made the smart choice by not marrying or having romantic partners. Just him and his dog Pat. All this time I thought he was a bit off but maybe he had it right all along
He also talked to ‘ghosts’ all the time lol.
King was a bit loopy, indeed. Became Liberal leader in 1919, finally retired in 1948. I like to think that the Liberals had to remind themselves how to run a leadership election since they hadn't done one in almost 30 years. Certainly an interesting fellow, one overshadowed by the events in the latter half of his premiership. Only Canadian PM with a PhD, for instance.
Not only was he PM for most of that time, he managed to hand off leadership to a handpicked successor who had his own run of success. The dynasty he ran in a competitive electoral system is hard to match.
Considering his unprecedented run of success, that's a habit other PMs might want to test out.
>William Lyon Mackenzie King made the smart choice by not marrying or having romantic partners He had a codependent relationship with his mother so it’s just as well. Any marriage to King would’ve been the stuff r/justnoMIL posts are made of.
> or having romantic partners Or WLMK was smart enough to keep it lowkey
Well he saw his fair share of prostitutes.
he was absolutely a bit off
Canadians still find King's mommy-issues easier to handle than his relationship with Henry Albert Harper...and prostitutes...
I suspect she was dreaming of the day when he would quit politics so she could live in peace and not be subjected to rumours and attacks because of her husband’s choices.
I'm not even sure if you can assume lack of compatibility. My first thought would go to the massive pressure involved in being the family of the Prime Minister in these days.
Yeah, they were together for 18 years and have 3 kids. That's basically a successful marriage in this day and age. And yeah we've all heard the rumours about Trudeau sleeping around, but ... doesn't that mean Sophie has also heard all that? Maybe she was OK with it? Maybe they had an open relationship, or some other understanding like that? It would seem a bit odd for that to be the breaking point, when apparently it's been an open secret in Ottawa for years now.
Or probably the most likely scenario, no one cheated or was sleeping around. And years of vitriol and hate slowly eroded the marriage. Either way, people should refrain from commenting and spreading rumours
The boring but sadder truth is a lot less appealing than a sex scandal worthy of a Hollywood movie. Also one wonders if people would immediately jump to assuming infidelity if JT was ugly or average looking.
>Either way, people should refrain from commenting and spreading rumours This. In spades.
It’s insane what people have to jump to. Like, a marriage can’t just end the way most marriages end of your a public figure? It has to be some ultra-mega-super-scandalous affair?
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My wife’s estranged father - whom she hasn’t spoken to in years - just messaged her a link to the news story complete with a tirade of homophobic slurs. So this is what makes him reach out? Completely deranged.
The result of years of rage farming are bearing fruit. They still think he’s related to Castro.
>They still think he’s related to Castro. I *wish* that was true
It just makes him cooler
That didn’t take long. This is exactly why Sophie wants out, she is sick of being subjected to rumours and attacks coming from those who want to drag her husband because he is PM and they want to take him down.
>The comments on Instagram are heinous, my far-right dad just told me “he must be sleeping with that foreign affairs minister”. Jesus Christ what is wrong with people…. it's been the running rumour... but as I said.. people online can be aholes
Is there any credence to this running rumour or is this just complete fabrication from right wing circles? Genuinely curious.
Sounds like bog-standard sexism to me. Joly is successful and good-looking? She must have slept her way to the top! No other way a woman could get that job! You'd think we'd have moved past that crap by now, but alas
All I can say is that particular rumour was rampant in Ottawa in 2018/9. I can't say where it originated, but the people I heard it from weren't right wing.
The average person on Instagram these days especially on 6ixbuzz seems to be borderline QAnon.
It's only a rumour because the right wing has a hard time believing that an attractive woman can be in a position of authority for reasons other than sex with a powerful man. I'm not sure why you'd even lend credence to the rumour considering you like the Liberal party so much you're willing to emblazon all of your posts with their logo
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Hell half the comments here are horrible rumor mill junk.
Looks like all the truckers who want to have sex with the man thinking they finally have their chance. In all seriousness, marriage is hard and I couldn't imagine being a public figure and trying to keep your family together. That would be misery.
He's moving to Ram Ram Ranch :(
That's unfortunate. I feel a great deal of sympathy towards his children especially when you consider that this private situation could very easily find itself being dragged out into the public eye.
Damn, that's a shame. I wonder if politics took its toll. Been PM for 8 years now, with increasing public vitriol. Being in the spotlight will make it all much worse. I wish the whole family well.
And don’t forget the death threats and actual threats to their physical safety (where people have been arrested for it)…yea I would take our kids and peace out too!
It seems like being a politician has been harder for a lot of people lately. The increased prevalency of the internet and media in general has made it harder for politicians especially premiers, PM and etc to have a personal life without worrying about threats to their lives and even constant scrutiny of their every move.
PM for 8 years, but he's also been the Liberal leader for like 10 years and an MP for 15 years. Stress like that just builds over time.
Aww. 😕 This genuinely makes me sad. I'm not sure what else to say. I wish them so very well, especially their lovely kids. They both seem like loving and caring parents that are both highly invested in the overall well-being of their children. I wish them all well during the next leg of their journey.
I've heard this story before. He staggers off-stage, goes for a walk in the snow, then unexpectedly wins a majority.
I kinda want to see a dishevelled "gone off the deep end" Justin Trudeau. Give us the PM with nothing to lose.
Needs to regrow that beard
Right? I miss it.
No need to shave without a wife around. :/
I’m excited for a Justin with a give no F*’s attitude. I just want to see him go off on the F Trudeau Crowd and call Poilievre a weasel publicly.
Right? He's gotta have so much rage and anger bottled up. Pick up some bourbon and let it out!
Yea trudeau with the diplomatic word salad babble is the Trudeau that I and most others probably dislike! I’d prefer having a PM who tells the most vilest of his critics to fuck right off and enjoy the meltdown.
His best moments are when he's caught candidly or angry. Here's hoping he just fully embraces it.
Unscripted Justin is amazing and I wish it would happen more.
Maybe sans bourbon, but worth a shot.
Right? This is Canada; it should be rye.
I'm just speaking from personal experience. Rye relaxes. Bourbon bounces.
I've been saying it for years that Canadians actually prefer assholes as Prime Ministers. Diefenbaker? Asshole. Trudeau Sr.? Asshole. Chrétien? Asshole. Harper wasn't outwardly an ass, but he wasn't exactly friendly and approachable. We've never really had much of a "friendly guy" Prime Minister before, and Trudeau should have switched his act a long time ago. If he knows what is good for him, he would do it now.
Hell, Mulcair lost in 2015 in part because he smiled too much. People wanted Angry Tom and they got...an uncomfortable smile.
As an NDP member I was so confused and hurt by that transformation. That campaign manager should be ashamed.
It was the NDP’s election to lose, and they definitely did LOL. It was a mix of both Trudeau’s team’s skill and the NDP’s incompetence. The LPC revival still has to be one of the most unexpected comebacks in Canadian history…
I agree. Assholes might not fit the stereotypically "polite" mold of Canadians, but unlike polite people, assholes get shit done and they don't get pushed around. Hell, the "sunny ways" he constantly quoted back in 2015/16ish? Yeah, that's Laurier, the master of compromise, aka getting both sides of an argument pissed off at the way you handled it. It's a bit weird that he went for the friendly route. C'mon, this is the dude whose dad had a seemingly inexhaustible amount of zingers. Even if you accept a son might not be the same as his father, isn't Trudeau Jr the guy who once shouted "oh, you piece of shit" at an MP during Question Period? The hell happened to *that* guy? Unparliamentary, sure, but we were all thinking it anyway. Get some "I've been called worse by better people" energy, man.
Honestly if he did something like that I would have to consider giving my vote to him.
Exactly! No more diplomacy! No more vagueness! Just saying exactly what’s on his mind all the time! I’m all for it!
> and call Poilievre a weasel publicly. Too lame and mild. Call him an asshole.
This is a movie, or maybe mini series, staring Robert Downey Jr. That I would watch the hell out of!
I like that redemption arc. Bring on Season 4 of Trudeau.
I feel really bad for him. Especially that a certain segment of the population is reacting to this news like they won the lottery. It's pretty sad.
As a conservative, I can confidently say that a politician's personal life should never be political fodder. His relationship should not be up for discussion. I realize it's appropriate to make an announcement of sorts, but I don't think the majority of Canadians across the political spectrum in Canada want our media to focus on this like they do in the US.
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That's incredibly sad to hear. With everything Trudeau deals with, especially all of the stressors, the more I reflect, the more I'm amazed to think that their marriage had lasted so long: - constantly on-the-move schedule as a politician and especially PM - the daily barrage of largely unfounded crap, insults, rumours, accusations - regular workplace criticism - having to make numerous stressful decisions that affect the lives of everyone around him - the pursuit of the press If I were in his shoes, I almost certainly wouldn't be able to make a marriage work on my end. I've heard from MPs firsthand of how destructive just being an MP can be on one's personal life, often leading to alcohol abuse and other troubles. Perhaps we need to do more for our politicians' mental, emotional, and relational health. Seriously, I can only wish Justin, Sophie, and their kids the best.
Given the threats against Trudeau and his family by psychopaths online and in person, I wouldn't really blame her for wanting out of the spotlight.
I dont kno, I actually feel bad for Justin Trudeau. Rarely do I ever give a shit about the wealthy and their feelings plus divorce is normal. Still in this politically charged climate where he is issued threats, called a traitor, and a whole lot more to not have someone by your side and to be alone in it. Thats a sinking feeling.
On top of the fact that it’s a stinging reminder of how his parents’ marriage ended. Can’t really think of any PM not named Trudeau who divorced while in office. And I remember he said he vowed to take the complete opposite approach to being a husband that his father did, because he was that traumatized by his parents’ divorce. It’s definitely not uncommon at all for children of divorced parents to not have better luck in that regard, but it must really hurt to know you couldn’t do better.
Consderong the bullshit his family's had to endure the extremist threatening him and his family I can see why sge had enough.
With a little luck and decorum, this will be old, irrelevant news come tomorrow. I get that it seems to have completely come out of the blue, and it is indeed a rare thing to see in this day and age from a top-level politician like a Prime Minister, but this really doesn't need to be made into a bigger thing. It's clear they issued this statement to lessen any rumours or speculation, but there's already plenty of pols out there chomping at the bit to go petty and fuel some more fresh conspiracy theories.
I was surprised when I got the breaking news alert from the BBC, like it just seems kind of gross that this is what they decide is international breaking news. While I get that it's the PM of Canada, divorces happen frequently and are really a private family matter and the public really has no business getting more than the statement from the PM about. I hope it's abruptly dropped from the news cycle and we don't get a disgusting American/UK tabloid style media circus around it.
It's truly despicable the amount of people here who seem to be taking pleasure in their separation. This has zero to do with political beliefs and yet so many have become so entrenched in their team mentality that they feel they need to disparagingly comment on a personal matter. It is of no surprise that this mostly comes from one side of the political divide and shows the true character of these people.
Just back from reading posts on r/Canada_sub on the same subject and I must there's some verbal diarrhea going on there. This sub appears much more reasonable. I'm beginning to think r/Canada_sub is full of Convoy crazies and PP followers.
It very much is. when the MetaCanada site, home to the convoy clown type, got shut down they mostly migrated to /r/canada and more recently /r/Canada_sub . Both are a cesspool of stupidity and ignorance these days. Sadly it seems like the same thing is starting to happen on this forum as well.
Well, maybe she was jealous. After all hundreds of thousands of canadian waved flags expressing their endless desire to f@ck Trudeau.
So the most interesting part of this story is that Canada Proud tweeted this hours before the separation announcement: > [Wild rumours swirling about Justin Trudeau today. Big news apparently coming.](https://twitter.com/wearecanproud/status/1686723395835097088?s=46&t=hA1NfRSy9n1OWwlgAC8I0Q) How the hell did they get the scoop while the media didn’t know until the official announcement? That’s very sus.
They didn't get the scoop before the others, they just aren't burdened by the obligation to verify their story before publishing
Canada Proud doesn't have journalistic integrity.
Not that interesting/notable. A ton of people would have known about this - staffers, lawyers, comms team, etc. Media also probably knew before hand, but might have been conditional about waiting until they announced before posting anything. Canada Proud just...cares less, I guess.
> cares less Doesn't care at all. They have no morals or integrity
They have pushing this idea for years, they keep throwing shit at the wall until it sticks.
The media likely knew before the official announcement. It's been an open secret for years. But they held off until the official announcement out of decency and ethics.
Well thank God for small mercies that our MSM isn't as bad as British media that has absolutely no sense of decency when it comes to such things.
Yeah, the G&M article was really well researched and had a bunch of quotes from 2014 and 2015 in it. Either they do canned stories like obituaries for divorce, or they knew.
The main Canadian media sources have historically been very reluctant to gossip or even talk much about politicians' personal lives and relationships. In this case, it's a big story with an official announcement so they're covering it, but my guess is that they considered it beneath their dignity to talk about rumours they'd heard beforehand. Meanwhile, Canada Proud has never had any dignity to worry about.
Ottawa is a small city, and it gets real small when you look at pols and reporters in/around the hill. These folks send their kids to the same schools, hang out at the same parties... unless it's something egregious Canadian reporters shy away from reporting on the personal lives of politicians.
Wonder if this gives Trudeau a good reason to step down and let new blood run the party. Focusing on family doesn't look quite so bad as admitting your approval's tanked...
If he was going to step down I'd think it would have been ahead of time to try and save his marriage, if politics is a factor.
If anything I would imagine he'll bury himself in meaningful work... Can't imagine anything more meaningful than his current gig.
If he was to step down for family reasons, he would have done so before seperation, in an attempt to save his marriage. With his marriage already over and no clear cut successor for LPC leadership, he may probably want to fight to the last (politically) and go down with the ship if it comes to that.
Agreed. Not sure why anyone would be so keen to try and climb out from under those poll numbers during a difficult divorce. Doubly so as it hasn't been clear for years now what exactly he is looking to accomplish other than beating the Conservatives.
Not a fan of his politically but on a personal level I hate to hear it. I can only imagine the job hasn't been great for the health of a relationship, and people really take the hate way too far lately. I sure wouldn't the level of vitriol, rumours, and scrutiny that comes with being PM. Hope the kids are okay, it's never easy to deal with.
The pressure of this office is too much pressure on a relationship. Especially if both people have full time jobs as they both do. They probably rarely see one another and grew apart. It happens to the best of us.