Trudeau's final weeks strike balance between cementing his legacy and managing a crisis

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau works through what is likely to be his last week in office, he and his government appear to be moving to cement his political legacy. 

Trudeau and his ministers have been making significant announcements on infrastructure, social programs and reconciliation.

Trudeau has also made recent international trips to the United Kingdom and Ukraine to discuss and demonstrate Canada's ongoing support for Ukraine and future role in global security.

All this has come against a backdrop of leading the country through an economic, security and existential crisis instigated by the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Randy Besco, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, says that making announcements on your way out the door is common for outgoing prime ministers, as is tying up loose ends.

"One way to look at it is: they are trying to cement a legacy. Another way to look at it is: they might lose so they are trying to get a lot of stuff done. And that's also a pretty standard thing," he told CBC News.

Here are some of the major steps the Trudeau government has taken in recent weeks to shore up signature policy moves made over the last decade. 

Indigenous reconciliation

Trudeau has repeatedly said that there's no relationship "more important to Canada than the relationship with Indigenous Peoples."

Over the last decade he's made significant, although not perfect, progress toward his promise to renew that relationship, and further reconciliation.

Those efforts saw Trudeau deliver apologies for the federal government's past child welfare and residential schools policies, as well as lift 147 long-term drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities. 

In his final weeks in office, Trudeau and the Haida Nation reminded the country of that mission by signing an agreement recognizing Aboriginal title over the archipelago of Haida Gwaii off British Columbia's northern coast.

A week later, Trudeau announced that he'd struck a $270-million agreement to support jobs and conservation projects in the Qikiqtani region of Nunavut.

"When we invest to protect [and] safeguard biodiversity, we protect those who protect us, our environment and our livelihoods," Trudeau told reporters.

On Thursday, the government announced a settlement agreement for survivors of federally run Indian hospitals where claimants are eligible for up to $200,000.

Ukraine

While the issue of how to continue support for Ukraine will fall into the lap of Canada's next prime minister, Trudeau reminded the world in recent weeks that he is still front and centre to voice Canada's support for the country.  

Since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the federal government says it has provided almost $20 billion in military and humanitarian support to the European nation.

Canada has also provided strong political and diplomatic support, sanctioning more than 3,000 people and entities, and another 109 naval vessels that it says are in some way participating in the invasion of Ukraine. 

Trudeau has reinforced this financial and political support by visiting the country four times since the invasion began, including his latest trip on the three-year anniversary of the invasion. 

Trudeau attended a summit in Kyiv last month, in which he publicly praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's "remarkable personal bravery, resilience and resolve." 

Earlier this month, Trudeau went to the United Kingdom where he and other European leaders met in London to discuss their ongoing support for the country.

Child care

In 2021, the federal government announced a $30-billion, five-year child-care plan to create 250,000 new affordable spaces across the country. About 150,000 spaces have been created or funded so far. 

In the 2021 budget, the government said that of the $30 billion promised, $27.2 billion will be used to "bring the federal government to a 50/50 share of child-care costs with provincial and territorial governments."

In time, all of the provinces and territories signed on to the deal, which was funded until 2026.

This week, Trudeau announced another five-year agreement to extend the program until March 2031. 

Trudeau said the $37-billion deal with 11 provinces and territories (Alberta and Saskatchewan have yet to sign on) will help the provinces create another 100,000 spaces by this time next year.

The base funding is also being increased by three per cent, per year, for four years starting in 2027-28 in order to make sure the program can keep pace with rising costs.

Trudeau said the deals "will allow this to lock in, to become something that no government, a year from now, five years from now, 20 years from now, could ever go back on."

Pharmacare

A year ago, Health Minister Mark Holland released the details of the Liberal government's pharmacare plan that he said would start out by covering the costs of some diabetes treatments. 

Delivering the program was a condition of the Liberal and NDP supply-and-confidence agreement. 

The Liberal government said the plan also gives the nine million Canadians of reproductive age better access to contraception to ensure "reproductive autonomy, reducing the risk of unintended pregnancies and improving their ability to plan for the future."

The Pharmacare Act passed through Parliament and received royal assent in October. Although it started providing only limited coverage, the plan is to eventually expand it into a comprehensive national pharmacare program. 

While the enabling legislation is in force, the program needs provinces to sign on.

Late last month, Holland announced that Manitoba was the first province to make a deal. The federal government will provide the province with $219 million in funding over four years. 

On Thursday, B.C. became the second province to sign on, inking a deal with the Liberal government worth $670 million over four years.

That was swiftly followed by Prince Edward Island, which signed a $30-million deal on Friday.

School food program

Canada is the only G7 country that does not have a national school food program, according to the Breakfast Club of Canada. 

Last April, the Liberal government announced it would spend $1 billion over five years to launch such a program that it said would deliver 400,000 meals for children annually. 

Last year, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Ontario and Prince Edward Island signed deals with the federal government to participate in the program.  

New Brunswick, Nunavut and Nova Scotia signed their deals last month, and just this week Quebec, B.C. and the Northwest Territories signed on as well. 

High-speed rail

Trudeau launched a six-year, $3.9-billion design and development plan last month that he said would eventually connect Quebec City and Toronto via a high-speed rail line.

Trudeau said the new rail network will run all-electric trains along 1,000 kilometres of track, reaching speeds of up to 300 km/hour, with stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City.

Transport Canada initially estimated that the cost of such a project could be as high as $80 billion.

Multiple provincial and federal governments have mused about building high-speed rail, but Canada is still the only G7 country without some form of high speed rail either in operation or under development. 

Asked why he was launching a multi-year infrastructure project on the eve of his departure from office, Trudeau said a project that large would always have to "cover multiple governments … from municipal to provincial to federal."

"Obviously, future governments will make their determinations about how they invest. But this investment in Canadians, which starts right now, is going to be very difficult to turn back on," Trudeau said.