Justin Trudeau will be seen as one of the great Canadian prime ministers, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Mr Varadkar was speaking after Mr Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday, saying “internal battles” mean that he “cannot be the best option” in the next election.
Mr Varadkar praised Mr Trudeau’s tenure in power and said that when his legacy is assessed “he will be seen as one of the great Canadian prime ministers, certainly a consequential one”.
He told RTE Radio: “I do think he was a prime minister who achieved a lot for Canada.
“You mentioned Donald Trump, he dealt with him for four years, Donald Trump was going to get rid of Nafta, get rid of the trade agreement between the USA, Canada and Mexico, and he managed to negotiate a new agreement called the US-NCA which is pretty much the same thing. I think that was quite an achievement.
“He was very good on climate, had the courage to bring in a carbon tax and bring Canada into the Paris accords, and bear in mind, there’s a really strong lobby in Canada – oil industry, gas industry, all of that.
“Brought in gun control, something politicians south of the US-Canada border have not been successful at doing.
“Brought in a Canadian system of child benefit which I think has made a difference in the lives of children and families and also improved access to affordable childcare and healthcare.”
He acknowledged the problems that Canada faces, but said they were similar to other Western countries’ challenges: the cost of living, housing shortages and migration.
He added: “But I think when you look at the broad sweep of what he has achieved over nine years, it is significant and I think he can be proud of what he has achieved.”
After Mr Varadkar first became taoiseach in 2017, Mr Trudeau was the first world leader to visit Ireland under his tenure and Canada was the first country Mr Varadkar paid an official visit to in the role.
Mr Varadkar announced his resignation in March, when he said being taoiseach had been “the most fulfilling time” of his life but said he no longer felt he was the best person for the job.
Asked about the similarities between Mr Trudeau’s exit and his own, he said that Fine Gael was not as far behind in the polls as the Canadian Liberals.
He said: “I remember one prime minister, (New Zealand’s) Jacinda Ardern, stepped down after six years, I remember her saying to me once, if you’re a prime minister, if you’re a head of government, there’s only three ways you go: you die, you lose an election or you resign, and if you resign it’s either by choice or by force.”
