Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his father — who led Canada for 15 years — used his connections to intervene on a family marijuana charge. According to Justin Trudeau, The elder Trudeau, who dominated Canadian politics from the late 1960s through the early 1980s, intervened on son Michel’s behalf, using “a couple connections” and helping make a criminal charge of marijuana possession “go away.”
Trudeau made the admission Monday night in an interview with Toronto’s Vice Media. Trudeau was on-air to discuss his Liberal government’s plans to legalize marijuana, officially announced this month.
Michel Trudeau died in an avalanche while mountain climbing in British Columbia almost two decades ago.
Justin Trudeau said his brother was charged with marijuana possession after a traffic accident. Michel Trudeau was on his way back to Montreal from the West Coast when the incident occurred. Police investigated and helped Trudeau collect his belongings that had been strewn along the highway. During the collection, police found pot hidden inside a tin intended for sore throat lozenges.
Trudeau said his father first found his son a good lawyer.
“He was very confident that we were able to make those charges go away,” Trudeau said of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. “We were able to do that because we had resources, my dad had a couple connections and we were confident that my little brother wasn’t going to be saddled with a criminal record for life.”
Trudeau said the story illustrates how the marginalized in society don’t always have the means or influence to win their battles with the justice system. He suggested legalizing marijuana is one way of remedying the “fundamental unfairness” of that system.
Trudeau reiterated his promise that recreational marijuana will be legal in Canada by July 1, 2018 but that in the mean time police will continue to arrest people for violating the current laws.