Divorces in the political world are almost always headline-making news. In fact, many politicians might hold off on divorcing their spouse leading up to an election year, for fear of public backlash. But in Canada, most residents have been nonplussed about the news that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife of 18 years, Sophie Grégoire, areseparating.
The response to Trudeau’s announcement earlier this week that the two had filed for legal separation was tepid among Canadians — and according to Canadian crisis communications expert Amanda Galbraith, at least part of the reason for that is cultural.
“In Canada, traditionally we don’t delve into the private lives of our politicians,” says Galbraith, a principal at Canadian public affairs and crisis communications firmNavigator.
Galbraith, who was not involved in Trudeau’s specific strategy, but has worked in political communications for more than 20 years, adds that Sophie Grégoire’s role as a political spouse is far different from, say, First LadyJill Biden.
“There’s no official role for a first lady like you have in the U.S., so the spouses of prime ministers have taken on either more or less prominent positions,” says Galbraith. “[Sophie] took on a bit more of a prominent role at the beginning of the prime minister’s first term, but certainly seemed to kind of step back quite a bit from the public and that’s something completely acceptable to Canadians.”
Though that hasn’t always been the case.
“There was an ideal image that you would see in the beginning, right?” Galbraith says. “The family photo ops, and we had the Trudeaus with their kids trick or treating, and that kind of thing. But that’s pretty rare to see in Canadian politics.”
Galbraith notes that Trudeau being thought of as a father and a family man may have been beneficial to him politically, but he also comes from a prominent family and is the son of a former Canadian prime minister (who, it’s worth noting,also separated from his wife while in office). “He was very much a known quantity to Canadians,” she says, well before he was married.
As for whether a separation could impact afourth election victory in 2025, Galbraith is not convinced.
“The prime minister’s popularity is not what it was,” she says. “And part of that is the economy here— housing is in crisis, inflation’s up, people can’t afford mortgages. People are very angry about that. Part of it is he’s just been in office for a long time and you get a lot of collateral damage from being prime minister for as long as he has.”
She continues: “So all of that will be a challenge, but I would say a separation from his wife here in Canada would not impact his electability unless there’s another element to it, which does not appear to be the case.”
As she explains, the announcement of a public separation or divorce involving a prominent politician usually involves more than just the family unit itself. Speaking hypothetically, she says such a decision would see the political figure speaking to their closest staffers to tell them the news and discuss how best to publicly announce it.
“And then obviously the [politician] will usually let them know their wishes. ‘This is what I do or do not want. This is what my partner wants.’ And then you kind of think through, ‘Okay, what does that rollout look like? How do we tell members of the party? How do we tell staff? How do we tell the public?’ "
In the case of Trudeau, Galbraith says the announcement was “very smooth,” adding: “What it appears they have done is decided on a very brief statement … my guess is to limit the news cycle, also limit the speculation on their children.”
Indeed, Trudeau’s office made clear that Justin and Sophie would put on a united front, saying in a statement the two even planned to take a family vacation with their children just days after announcing their split.
Galbraith says that, while rumors began to bubble up about an impending separation hours before the official announcement, the conversation “has died down since” in Canada.
The opposition party (the Conservative Party of Canada), meanwhile, has stayed away from commenting on it altogether, Galbraith notes.
“Broadly, I think the country is sad that [the separation] is happening because no one wants to see the breakdown of a marriage,” Galbraith says. “I think some folks were shocked, some folks were not, but I think people largely want to respect their privacy, particularly because of the young kids.”
source: people.com
