Justin Trudeau thanks Canadians for respecting family’s privacy after split with wife

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked Canadians Monday for respecting his family’s privacy after he and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, announced earlier this month they were separating.

“I really, really want to thank Canadians for having been so incredibly gracious and incredibly generous in respecting our privacy and our space,” Trudeau said during a media availability in P.E.I. ahead of a three-day cabinet retreat. It was his first public statement on the separation since it was announced.

“I got a really good 10 days with the family to focus on the kids, to focus on being together and moving forward.”

Trudeau and Grégoire announced their separation in statements posted to social media on August 2. They have been married for 18 years.

They have three children together: two sons, Xavier, 15, and Hadrien, 9, and one daughter, 14-year-old Ella-Grace.

“I want to thank all the people who’ve reached out over the past number of weeks with warm wishes, with personal messages, with personal stories that have been just wonderful and positive,” Trudeau added.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office released when the separation was announced, Trudeau and Grégoire Trudeau have “signed a legal separation agreement.”

“They have worked to ensure that all legal and ethical steps with regards to their decision to separate have been taken, and will continue to do so moving forward,” Trudeau’s office said.

Trudeau is only the second the prime minister in Canadian history to announce a separation while in office. The first was his father, Pierre Trudeau, who separated from his wife, Margaret Sinclair, in 1977.

Trudeau a liability?

The prime minister is in Charlottetown for a three-day cabinet retreat aimed at preparing the government’s fall agenda after a very difficult spring and a major summer cabinet shuffle.

That shuffle was intended in part to shore up the cabinet ahead of the next federal election campaign, according to senior government sources.

Recent polls indicate the Liberals are trailing the Conservatives in voting intentions by as much as 10 points.

Pointing to the appearance of flags and bumper stickers across the country that use profane language to call out Trudeau personally, a reporter asked the prime minister if he is a political liability for his party.

“Don’t write off Canadians just because they choose to wave a nasty flag. Don’t write off a neighbour who chooses to put a bumper sticker,” said Trudeau.

“There are people who are hurting and there are people who are lashing out and we need to be there to reassure them that they’re going to be able to succeed. That their kids and their communities are going to be able to succeed, even though the world is changing in very scary ways.

“Politics is never going to be a game of unanimous support. It’s about a whole bunch of thoughtful, good people coming together to try and figure out the best way forward.”