Trudeau took 166 days off last year: report
Trudeau claimed he 'works more days a week than the vast majority of Canadians,' according to The Counter Signal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took 166 days off last year, according to publicly available records detailed by The Counter Signal.
A prior Counter Signal exclusive with Trudeau revealed at least a few of those days took place in Tofino, British Columbia, where he vacationed twice in as many years.
The PMO earlier told the National Post it publishes itineraries "in the spirit of openness and transparency."
During the Counter Signal interview, Trudeau claimed he "works more days a week than the vast majority of Canadians." The average Canadian works 7.1 hours a day, according to Statistics Canada, totalling 1,789 hours annually.
By contrast, the prime minister’s 2024 schedule included 46 days where he worked one hour or less. Combined with nearly three full months of personal time, Trudeau’s cavalier approach to governance has been a consistent theme during his tenure as prime minister.
According to a National Post analysis of Trudeau's itineraries, the prime minister took personal days once every four days (24%), excluding election campaigns.
Since taking office in 2015, Trudeau has had 680 "personal days" through 2023. Roughly two-thirds (68%) of his "personal days" were spent within the National Capital Region during that period, records show.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said he still worked on those days, taking calls with staff and stakeholders, as well as briefings with officials.
Trudeau's personal days also include lavish family vacations, including 31 days in Costa Rica, another nine days in Jamaica, and eight days in the Bahamas.
In December 2023, more than a month after the initial analysis, Trudeau and his family vacationed for a second time at a close friend's resort in Jamaica for another eight days.
Keean Bexte, chief reporter for Counter Signal, asked Trudeau if he would seek his replacement as party leader. "No, I am absolutely not," he replied. "I am running in the next election."
"Are you concerned about your poll numbers?" Bexte asked Trudeau last July 24. "No, I am not," he said. An earlier Abacus survey gave the Conservatives a 20-point lead over the Liberals, which held for much of 2024.
"Canadians are not in a decision mode right now," Trudeau told CBC News in a June 17 interview. "What you tell a pollster … is very different from the choice Canadians end up making in an election campaign."
His popularity has rapidly declined in 2024, following several key by-election losses and growing dissent from Liberal ranks.
A December 30 poll by Angus Reid pegged national support for the Liberals at just 16%, the lowest in its 157-year history.
Almost half (46%) of Canadians want the prime minister to resign and prorogue Parliament for a leadership race, while two in five want a February 2025 election.
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
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COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-01-02 19:15:53 -0500What a blatant liar Trudeau is! He hardly works at all. During the panic-demic, he phoned it in.
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Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2025-01-02 17:43:39 -0500He should change his job title to Prime Malingerer. Never have we had such a work-shy shirker lead the country.
