Trudeau willing to take 'some punches' for work-life balance debate

With his forthrightannouncement thathe will be taking the dayoffwhile in Japan to celebrate his wedding anniversary, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seemed to be daring, or possiblyinviting, those who wouldcriticize hisactions.

"I'll see your hubbub about nannies and extra help & raise you an anniversary abroad. Bold," tweeted AndrewMacDougall, a past director of communications for former prime ministerStephen Harper.

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Bold, perhaps, but it could also be seen as part of a calculatedstrategy on Trudeau's partto deliberately provoke discussiononanissue that resonates with many Canadiansand couldscore him afew political points in the process.

'Invitation to critics'

"Thereisaproactivityto his declarationthat he was going to make time for his anniversary," saidScott Reid, political strategist and former senior adviser to Paul Martin."And there's almost an invitation to critics to register agrievance. Why? So that it canpropelthe debate forward."

Trudeau,in Tokyo for bilateral talks and the Group of Seven Summit, appeared to bemore than willing to explain to reporterswhy he was clearing his schedule Wednesday. Hesaid hewould be "taking a moment to celebrate" his 11th anniversarywith his wife Sophie Grgoire Trudeau, a day offat no expense to the taxpayers since he would be using his personal funds to cover the costs. (The actual anniversary date comes a few days later.)

"This is the kind of work-life balance that I've often talked about as being essential in order to be able to be in service of the country with all one's very best and that's certainly something I'm going to continue to make sure we do," the prime minister said.

Justin and Sophie take a hike

8 years ago

Duration 0:18

Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau hiking in the Ise-Shima region of Japan for their anniversary.

Trudeauhas raised the issue of work-life balancebefore.On the campaign trail, heproposedmore flexible work hours and new parental leave options. And just recently, his Liberalgovernmentannouncedit was looking into implementing flexible work hours forfederally regulated workers in sectors suchasbanking, telecommunications, broadcasting and transportation.

Currently, a House of Commons committee is studyingwaysto improvework-family balance for members of parliament, including the idea of ending Friday sessions.

Just weeks into the job, Trudeau, in an interview with CBC's Matt Gallowaysaid what surprised him mostabout his new rolewas the pace and how he must be "really ruthless about ensuring that I do have time with my family."

He said it's worse for members of his cabinet, many of whom are separated from their families for long periods of time. Maybe that's whyTrudeau's Environment MinisterCatherine McKenna canpublicly statethatfor 2hours a day, six days a week, she turns off her phone and spends time with her kids.

"This prime ministeris saying, 'I'vetalked abouttheseissues in public, Ithink this matters and I'mhappy toknockdown some old barriers onthisissue and I'll usemypersonalexample to do that," Reid said.

Appeal to women voters

With his day-off announcement,Trudeauis making a point of putting thison the radar for Canadians in an effort to connect with voters who will also feel this is an important issue.

And it's an issue that has particular appeal to femalevoters, who have to beara disproportionate burden when it comes to work-life balance.

"Ithink from a pure political standpoint, it's a reinforcing effort onthe part of this prime minister and thisPMOwith women voters," Reid said

In 2012,LindaDuxburya professor of management sciences at Carleton University, and Christopher Higgins, a professor of information systems atWestern University, releaseda major work-life balance study thatexamined work-life experiences of 25,000 Canadians. They found many families were havingdifficulties balancing competing work and family demands and thatcompanies hadnot made progress in the area of work-life balance and employee well-being

Their study also found that most Canadian employeesspend50.2 hours in work-related activities a week,justover half of employees take work home to complete outside regular hours, and that theywere twice as likely to let work interfere with family.

"I think that [Trudeau's]saying, 'I'm more than happy to take some punches from people who want to call this a day off.Isay this is getting it right," Reid said.

"I think this willbe quite resonant with large numbers of voters."'

The House36:16Midweek pod: behind the scenes in Japan

The CBC's David Cochrane gives Chris the main takeaways from his first overseas press trip with the Prime Minister to Japan for the G7 summit. Plus, two experts debate what exactly is meant by the "green economy".