This month’s Rolling Stone cover story profiles Justin Trudeau, inserting readers into the Canadian Prime Minister’s daily life: lapping up ice cream at a social in New Brunswick, dancing in a gay pride parade in Toronto, delivering concise news updates to the press — who he then high-fives — in Ottawa. The progressive prime minister, who says he has a “good working relationship” with President Trump, in many ways couldn’t be more different.
“Obviously, I disagree [with Trump] on a whole bunch, but Canadians expect me to accomplish two things at the same time, which is emphasize where we disagree and stand up firmly for Canadian interests,” Trudeau told Rolling Stone. “But we also have a constructive working relationship, and me going out of my way to insult the guy or overreact or jump at everything he says [that] we might disagree with is not having a constructive relationship.”
Although Trudeau was “manor born” — his late father Pierre a former Prime Minister himself — Rolling Stone points out he has made himself a champion for minorities and women. In 2015, he met Syrian refugees at the airport to hand out winter coats. After he was elected, he put together a cabinet with an equal number of men and women, mostly under age 50. The differences also boil down to little details: Rolling Stone pointed out that while Trudeau danced in Toronto’s pride parade, he did so while wearing socks marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
Perhaps most surprisingly, despite their different approaches, President Trump is a major fan of Trudeau’s, describing him as his “new found friend.”
“We have a great neighbor in Canada,” Trump said at the G-20 summit, “and Justin is doing a spectacular job in Canada.”
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