‘We owe it to you to take action’: Trudeau wraps cabinet retreat with message to millennials

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrapped up a multi-day meeting of his ministers with a message to young people: “We owe it to you to take action.”

From housing affordability to climate change, Trudeau attempted to reach out directly to the demographic that’s helped him win past elections.

“To young Canadians, I want to say something: You’ve had two crucial years of adulthood dramatically interrupted by COVID, and then you were hit by global inflation and increased interest rates. These events upended your educations, your first jobs, your early years of building a career and a network,” said the prime minister.

He then highlighted what the government has done to try to address these strains so far, from offering ways to save up to buy a home to eliminating interest on student loans, before noting “there’s lots more to do.” 

“We owe it to you to take action, so you can fully benefit from the promise of Canada. So you can succeed and access all the opportunities the generations before you had. So that you can have both a healthy economy and a healthy environment in strong, vibrant communities long into the future. As a team, this is one of our top priorities,” he said.

Backed by his recently-rejigged front bench of ministers, the prime minister said that heading into the fall, the rising cost of housing will be one of the minority Liberal government’s “core” priorities, however he’s wrapping up the three-day retreat without announcing any concrete actions on that front.

This comes amid recent polling by Abacus Data that found the Liberals were trailing the Conservatives by 11 points among millennials (those born between 1980 and 1996), and among Gen Z voters (those born between 1997 and 2005) Trudeau’s party is four points behind Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party.

Trudeau said the retreat was productive, included hearing directly from Canadians who are struggling to buy a home or afford rising rents, and his cabinet is leaving “excited for the work ahead.”

More coming…