Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers remarks during a Liberal Party fundraising event at the Versailles Convention Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Thursday, March 17, 2022. AP
"What this means is during this uncertain time the government can function with predictability and stability, present and implement budgets and get things done for Canadians," Trudeau said.
Trudeau's Liberal Party won reelection in September but failed to win a majority of seats in Parliament and must rely on the opposition to pass legislation. The leftist NDP party will support Trudeau's Liberals in exchange for deals on pharmaceutical and dental care plans, but it will not have a lawmaker in Trudeau's Cabinet.
"We've agreed to work together,'' Trudeau said. "It's about focusing on what we agree on instead of what we disagree on.''
Anti-vaccine protesters and truckers who laid siege to parts of Ottawa, the capital, called for Trudeau's government to be ousted earlier this year.
In theory, Trudeau could run again when the next election is held, which must be by 2025. But there are widespread doubts that he will do so, given that he would have been in power for 10 years, which has seen a drop in his popularity and a rise in animosity toward him in much of western Canada.
Trudeau is still remembered for evoking the prospect of "sunny ways'' when he took office in 2015 at age 43, the second-youngest Canadian prime minister ever. There have been setbacks since then, but he has been reelected twice.
Tall and trim, Trudeau channelled the star power, if not quite the political heft, of his father, Pierre Trudeau, who swept to power in 1968 on a wave of support dubbed "Trudeaumania.'' Pierre Trudeau, who was prime minister until 1984 with a short interruption, remains one of the few Canadian politicians known in America, his charisma often drawing comparisons to John F. Kennedy.
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