Obama weighs in on federal election, urges vote for Trudeau
Former U.S. president says ‘world needs his progressive leadership’
OTTAWA — Former U.S. president Barack Obama is urging Canadians to re-elect Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in an endorsement that arrives just a few days before the federal election.
Obama said in a message Wednesday on Twitter that while he was president he was proud to work with Trudeau. He called him a “hard-working, effective leader” who has taken on major issues like climate change.
“The world needs his progressive leadership now, and I hope our neighbours to the north support him for another term,” Obama wrote.
Obama’s support for Trudeau landed with less than a week left in Canada’s election campaign, and with polls suggesting the Liberal leader is locked in a tight race with Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.
Trudeau and Obama quickly developed a close friendship after the Liberals won the 2015 election — and they appear to have maintained their bond even after the end of Obama’s second presidential term in January 2017. Obama has a link to Canada; his brother-in-law Konrad Ng is from Burlington, Ont., and he and his family visited that community when he was a state senator in 2004.
They had dinner together last spring at an Ottawa-area restaurant while Obama was in the capital to headline a speaking event in front of more than 11,000 paying attendees. The former president has long been popular with many Canadians.
Obama has also given public endorsements to other highprofile, international politicians.
In 2017, he voiced his support in a video for French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron. A year earlier, while on his final overseas trip as president, he offered an endorsement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to a report by the Washington Post.
Minutes after Obama’s tweet Wednesday, Trudeau received more words of support from another prominent American: Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada. Heyman, appointed envoy by Obama, wrote he and the former president got to work directly with Trudeau. He said they saw “his dedication and effectiveness” as a leader.
“Canada has been very well served with (Justin Trudeau) as their Prime Minister,” Heyman wrote.
Green Leader Elizabeth May said that she was surprised a former U.S. president would endorse a candidate or engage in Canadian politics.
“Clearly, we remember the ’bromance,’ so there’s always that, but I think it’s important for Canadians to decide who forms government,” May said in Victoria, referring to the rapport between Trudeau and Obama. “The clearest and best result for this election is if we avoid a false majority, for either the Liberals or the Conservatives.”