Justin Trudeau: Canada’s knockout PM

Justin Trudeau: Canada’s knockout PM

In October 2015, Justin Trudeau scored a knockout punch in the Canadian political arena, leading his Liberal party to a majority government with a record sweep of the polls. After the longest election run-up in Canadian history, Trudeau capped off the 11-week campaign by winning 184 seats in Parliament, up from 36 seats, the largest increase ever seen in Canadian politics.

Many said that Trudeau won, not so much because of the Liberals’ platform of broad reform, but because Stephen Harper of the incumbent Conservative party was hated so much. But now, 100 days after taking office, a recent poll among Canadians shows Trudeau basking in the glow of 70% approval ratings. Pundits suggest this is more than just the honeymoon effect, and that Canadians are indeed happy with the direction this government is taking.

Key items in the Liberals’ to-do list include: judicious withdrawal of Canadian armed forces from active combat roles in the Middle East, massive spending on infrastructure improvements over the next 10 years, national legalization of marijuana, a more active role in climate change initiatives, the immigration of 25,000 Syrian refugees, sex and race parity for ministers in government, and a long-overdue truth and reconciliation program regarding government management of indigenous communities.

For the moment, Trudeau seems no less than a knight in shining armor for these troubled times, not only in Canada, but as the leader of a G8 country in a world beset with more troubles than most politicians can only shake a fist at. Although at times his youth (age 44) seems to betray him in unscripted comments to the media, there’s no disputing his undiluted enthusiasm for the hard political road ahead.

Trudeau was born on Christmas Day, 25 December 1971, at 9:27 pm in Ottawa, Canada. His father Pierre Trudeau was Canada’s prime minister, his mother Margaret from a renowned British Columbian political family. In that era, fathers were forbidden to be in the delivery room, and it was only because Pierre Trudeau was PM that the hospital allowed him to witness his son’s birth.

Justin Trudeau has Leo rising with the Sun in 5th house Sagittarius. He earned degrees in literature and education, and for many years prior to his political involvement was a schoolteacher. He also had a great passion for acting, although it was used against him when the opposition played footage of his acting in campaign attack ads to lampoon his lack of experience.

Trudeau has one Raja Yoga wherein 5th lord Jupiter and 7th lord Saturn oppose each other from the 4th and 10th house. This reflects his huge popularity in engaging the youth vote in his successful bid for office. He also has a pair of Dhana Yogas, courtesy of Jupiter’s association with Mercury, which is lord of both money houses, the 2nd and 11th. Trudeau’s father came from a wealthy family of Scottish and French-Canadian origins.

Trudeau has a Chandramangala Yoga formed by Moon and Mars in 8th house Pisces. Most objective observers readily acknowledge his youthful charisma, but also credit him with compassion. He put on his political agenda the plight of Canada’s underdogs – its First Nations population – whether investigating sexual abuses in northern residential schools, or the decades-long spate of murdered indigenous women in Canada’s western provinces.

He is relatively unique in having two Parivartana Yogas, something seen in only 3% of the general population. The first involves Mars and Jupiter exchanging signs in the 4th and 8th houses. The most obvious connection here is with Trudeau’s mother, who in her later years suffered bi-polar disorder. 4th lord Mars and the Moon, karaka for the mother, are both in the 8th.

Although his parents were separated by almost 30 years of age, it was Margaret Trudeau’s free-wheeling hippie-lifestyle of the mid- to late 70s that may have strained their marriage to the point of divorce. In the day, she was known to smoke pot, hang out with the Rolling Stones and party at Studio 54, much to the consternation of the PM’s Office.

But Pierre Trudeau was himself no buttoned-down conformist. 9th lord Mars is in the Pisces 8th, father-karaka Sun in Sagittarius, both dual signs. His father entered Canadian politics with considerable panache, wearing fedoras and capes with a rose always pinned to his lapel. He wasn’t shy about swearing in public and was once spotted by the press sliding down the banister of Buckingham Palace when the Queen’s back was turned.

And yet his father invoked martial law during the October Crisis of 1970 when domestic terrorists murdered a Quebec labor minister and kidnapped a British trade consul. The army was called in, curfew was established, and tanks occupied major intersections throughout Montreal, a necessary heavy-handedness for which the PM was later much criticized.

Justin Trudeau’s other Parivartana Yoga involves the exchange of Venus and Saturn across the 6th and 10th houses. Since these are upachaya houses, the implication is that he’ll succeed in his political objectives by dint of hard work and disciplined management. This, despite powerful opposition, some from foreign quarters, as suggested by the lunar nodes afflicting his Venus.

He had two younger brothers – Alexandre also born on a Christmas Day, 25 December 1973, and Michel born 2 October 1975. All three boys were avid outdoors people – skiing, canoeing and camping. His youngest brother Michel died 13 November 1998, buried by an avalanche while skiing in British Columbia back country. Brother-karaka Mars occupies the 8th.

Justin was running Venus-Jupiter at the time. Venus occupies a trikasthana, and is in the nakshatra of the Moon, which occupies another trikasthana. 5th lord Jupiter, significator of second-youngest sibling, is in the 4th, 12 houses removed. Jupiter occupies the nakshatra of Mercury, also 12th from the 5th.

His father died two years later, 28 September 2000, receiving a state funeral at which Justin gave the eulogy. Trudeau was then running Venus-Saturn. Venus is in a nakshatra of the Moon, which occupies the 8th, 12 away from the 9th of the father. Saturn’s occupation of a Sun nakshatra invoked both the status of the father as well as the ascendancy of Justin Trudeau himself, whose eulogy prompted many to think of him for the first time as the logical heir apparent to his father’s political legacy.

Not that this hadn’t been considered before. In 1972, when Pierre Trudeau was a guest of Richard Nixon at the White House, Nixon had toasted the four-month-old Justin, referring to him then as a future prime minister of Canada. Was this just diplomatic flattery, or was Nixon prescient?

Trudeau first ran for political office as a Member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Hochelaga, winning his seat in the national election of 14 October 2008. He was running Sun-Rahu at the time. The dasha of lagnesh Sun brought him into the national spotlight. Rahu, via its association with Venus, invoked the Parivartana Yoga that promised social advancement through competition, eg, elections.

On 31 March 2012, Trudeau participated in a charity boxing match, pitted against Marc Brazeau, a scrappy and contentious First Nations appointee to the Senate. Counter to all expectations, the skinny Trudeau won the match against the bulkier Brazeau, wrapping it up in the third round. Trudeau was running Sun-Venus. Despite Venus being in a nakshatra of the Moon, both occupant and lord of trikasthanas, Parivartana power prevailed. Trudeau credited his win to coaching, training and dogged determination to beat the odds.

He was elected as leader of the national Liberal party on 14 April 2013, thus taking on the difficult stewardship of a political party that held only 36 out of 338 Parliamentary seats. He was then running Moon-Moon. Aside from invoking the energy of his Chandramangala Yoga, the Moon through its nakshatra lord Mercury is connected to his angular Raja Yoga. He quickly began rebuilding the party, criss-crossing the country with a campaign of inclusiveness, in stark contrast to the almost-dictatorial style of his opponent Stephen Harper, who in August 2015 called for a general election.

Trudeau pulled out all the stops in a campaign that was, despite frequent polls, too close to call in a three-party race to form a new government. Most pundits said, the best anyone could hope for was a minority government. But on 19 October 2015, Trudeau and his Liberals swept to victory in a landslide.

He was running Moon-Jupiter. Both planets are involved, directly or by association, with the Parivartana Yoga of 4th and 8th lords, which demonstrates perhaps the power of the people (the 4th) to effect transformation (the 8th). Both planets occupy a nakshatra of Mercury, a positive house lord associated in turn with the Raja Yoga formed by the Jupiter/Saturn pair in the kendras.

Trudeau now faces the challenge of completing a lengthy to-do list within the five-year mandate awarded to a Prime Minister. Canadians are hopeful he can effect un grand virage (a big shift) in Canada’s status without breaking the bank.

Despite massive challenges and hard work ahead, Trudeau reflects the optimism of a Leo ascendant. He is pro-choice, pro-feminist and gay-friendly. His office announced recently that he will participate in this summer’s Gay Pride festivities in Toronto, a first for a Canadian Prime Minister. And as he kept pointing out during last fall’s election campaign, he sees the light at the end of the tunnel:

“Sunny ways, my friends, sunny ways.”

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Alan Annand, a graduate of the American College of Vedic Astrology and the British Faculty of Astrological Studies, has written two Vedic astrology books. Stellar Astrology offers astrological techniques, in-depth celebrity profiles, and analysis of world events. Parivartana Yoga is a reference text for one of the most common yet powerful planetary combinations in jyotish.

His NEW AGE NOIR crime novels (Scorpio Rising, Felonious Monk, Soma County) feature astrologer and palmist Axel Crowe, whom one reviewer has dubbed “Sherlock Holmes with a horoscope.”

Websites: www.navamsa.com, www.sextile.com

You can find his books on Amazon, Apple, Barnes&Noble, Kobo and Smashwords.

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