Justin Trudeau Sworn into Office as Canadian PM

The prime minister said Ms O’Dwyer was put in charge of the tax system while a nursing mother.

Trudeau is the first son of a premier to take office in Canada and the second-youngest PM in the country’s history. And “where we have decided an institution is more or less useless”, representationalism (through Trudeau’s female cabinet quota) takes place.

Trudeau named Catherine McKenna on Wednesday as minister of environment and climate change, a portfolio the previous government didn’t have, and created a new special Cabinet committee on “environment, climate change and energy” aimed at balancing natural resource development and ecological impact. When reporters asked why gender equality was so important to him, he answered, “Because it’s 2015”.

“It is not every day that a UBC alumnus achieves Canada’s highest office”, said Interim President Martha Piper.

Trudeau and his wife and his new cabinet arrived at Rideau Hall on a bus for the swearing-in ceremony. He had promised sunny days during the campaign and the weather cooperated for the event.

He was accused of racism, and women’s rights activists said it showed he was out of touch with the root causes of women’s inequality such as economics, child care, and law enforcement.

Canada and the United States are each other’s biggest trading partners and everyday, thousands of trucks and cars pass between the two countries separated by the longest undefended border in the world. In an email to supporters on Tuesday, Trudeau also suggested he’ll recall Parliament soon – likely early next month, after attending a whirlwind series of global leaders’ summits – to deliver quickly on the central plank of the Liberal election platform.

The conservative prime minister was also angered by Mr Obama’s reluctance to approve the Keystone XL pipeline that was created to transport petroleum from Alberta to Texas.

Trudeau, by contrast, tapped into an appetite for change with a plan to reject austerity and spend billions on infrastructure, running deficits for three years to do so.

There seemed to be general consensus that the new Cabinet features a talented and qualified roster, all of whom pass the “merit” criteria that a few media types were flaunting.

Trudeau says this is the team he needs to fulfill his campaign promise-including his goal to accept 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada before the year is over.