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Justin Trudeau: 5 most Googled questions

CBC News delivers answers to the 5 most Googled questions about Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in the lead up to election day on Oct. 19.

Canadians search the net with questions about the Liberal leader's family, wealth and support for Bill C-51

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has been a public figure since birth, but Canadians have still been turning to Google to ask questions about his background. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

No other contender for the office of the prime minister has been as familiar to the public as Justin Trudeau.

His upbringing at 24 Sussex Dr.,the eulogy at his father's funeral in 2000 watched by millions and his fraught relationship with his mother have all made national headlines.His lifesince birthhas played out in front of the cameras for all to see.

But before Canadians even think about handing him the keys to the Prime Minister's Office an outcomefar from certainmany questions linger over his readiness and what exactly he would do as prime minister.

Trudeau hasfaced months of attacks from both the Conservatives and the NDP that use some variation of the "He's just not ready" tagline, which hasstruck a chord with some voters.Thus, it is no surprise that one of the mostasked questions about him on Google before the current campaign was: "What are Justin Trudeau's accomplishments?"

Google Canada has revealedthe five mostsearched questions about each of the main party leaders, based on search data from the six months leading up to the election call.

Today, CBC News delivers answers to the most searchedquestions about Trudeau. Westarted earlier in the campaign withNDP Leader TomMulcair andConservative Leader Stephen Harper, and we'll look at Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in the coming days.

Here'swhat Canadians wanted to know about the Liberal leader, and some answers to their questions.

1. How old is JustinTrudeau?

Pierre Trudeau and his wife, Margaret, leave the city's Notre Dame Basilica on Jan. 16, 1972, after the christening of their 22-day-old son, Justin Pierre James. (Canadian Press)

Trudeauwas born in Ottawa on Christmas Day in 1971 one of the few people inCanadian history born while a parent was serving asprime minister. Trudeau grew up at 24 Sussex Dr., the stately official residencein posh Rockcliffe Parkin the capital, with younger brothers Sacha and Michel.

As a child, Trudeau recalls in his memoir,he knewlittle about what his dad did for a living simply that he was "the boss of Canada."

Now, at43 years old, Trudeauwould be the second-youngest person elected to the big job if he achieves his goal. The youngest? Joe Clark, who was just 39 when he toppled Pierre Elliott Trudeauin the 1979 election.

Another leader who was a relative pup when he ascended to the highest office in the land was Brian Mulroney. Thep'tit garsfrom Baie-Comeau was 45.

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is saluted by an RCMP officer as he carries Justin into Rideau Hall in 1973 to attend an outdoor reception for visiting heads of the Commonwealth countries in Ottawa. As a child, Justin didn't know exactly what his dad did other than that he was the 'boss of Canada.' (Peter Bregg/Canadian Press)

And while Trudeaumight be on the younger end of the spectrum for a leader, he waselected as a member of Parliament in 2008and has served nearly twice as long as hisfather did before he became prime minister in 1968.

2. What are Justin Trudeau's accomplishments?

The first Conservative attack ad released after Trudeau became the leader of the Liberal Party took aim at his careerto that point.

Snowboarding instructor, a bouncer at a nightclub in Whistler, B.C.,and a high school teacher at a private school in Vancouverare just some of the early entries on his resum.He also went on to chair theyouth volunteer programKatimavik, which had its federal funding axed in 2012.

But the job that put him in the national spotlight was his work with the Canadian Avalanche Association, after his brotherMicheldied while hiking in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park in 1998. Trudeau channelledthe grief of losing a sibling intoraising awareness and funds for Canada's avalanchesafety organizations.

Justin Trudeau stands at the base of a mountain after a controlled avalanche at Lake Louise, Alta., in January 2002. Trudeau's lobbying efforts helped secure funding for the Canadian Avalanche Centre, which warns skiers of dangerous conditions. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Another accomplishment Trudeau has routinely touted ishis electoral success in the riding of Papineau.

WhenTrudeau was passed over for another candidate to run in the thensafe Liberal seat of Outremont (later captured by Tom Mulcairina 2007 byelection) he opted torun in one of the country's smallestand poorestridings inMontreal's northend.

Justin Trudeau campaigns with his mother, Margaret, in September 2008. Trudeau won the riding of Papineau after besting Bloc Qubcois incumbent, Vivian Barbot, in a closely fought race. Trudeau says he got his political instincts from his maternal grandfather, James Sinclair. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)

He beat out Bloc Qubcois incumbent Vivian Barbot in the 2008 federal election on the strength of a solid ground game, a skillset he attributes to his mother's father: the late James Sinclair, an accomplished politician.

He managed to hold the seat in 2011, even as the Orange Wave crashedover Quebec, washing away manyof his Liberal colleagues inla belle province.

Trudeau captured the Liberal leadership in 2013with 77.8 per cent of the vote, garnering 81,389 of the more than 100,000 votes cast.

And, of course, who could forget his come-from-behind victory over thenConservative Senator Patrick Brazeau in the boxing ring a defining moment in his political career to date.

Brazeau-Trudeau fight weigh-in

12 years ago
Duration 6:37
Liberal MP Justin Trudeau and Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau weigh in for their March 31 charity boxing match at the Fight for the Cure event.

3. What is JustinTrudeau'snet worth?

While Trudeau has positioned himself as the champion of the country's middle class, he is unquestionablya member of the one per cent, and makes that point himself. Canadians asked Google for the bottom line.

Ten-year-old Justin Trudeau gets a right hook from his brother, eight-year-old Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau, as the two await the arrival of their father at the airport in Ottawa in June 1982. (Peter Bregg/Canadian Press)

When Trudeau was running for the Liberal leadership, his campaign disclosed to the Ottawa Citizenthathis personal fortune was valued at $1.2 million.

Justin and Sacha Trudeau inherited their father's home in Montreal after he passed away in 2000. (Ville de Montreal Archives)

Most of that moneycame in the form of an inheritance from his father,but somealso came from paid speaking engagements that he gave before andafter becoming a member of Parliament. The Trudeau boysalso inherited their father'smansion on Pine Avenuein Montreal's Golden Mile.

TheTrudeau family fortune has its origins in the 1920s, however.

Trudeau's grandfather, Charles-mile Trudeau, owned a chain of gas stations in the Montreal area, which became a cash cow when the automobile became a staple of North American life.

His grandfather also dabbled in professional sports, owning the Montreal Royals,the first professional baseball team to have a black player on its roster the legendary Jackie Robinson.

4. Who is JustinTrudeau'smother?

Canadians also searched Google to learn more about Trudeau's mother.

Margaret Sinclair, the daughter of Liberal cabinet minister JamesSinclair, was born in Vancouverin 1948. She met Pierrehe was 30 years her seniorwhile vacationing in Tahiti. Hewascaptivated by this"flower child," andafter a brief courtshipthe two married at the Sinclairfamily home on March 4, 1971. The three children quickly followed.

As Margaret herself recounts in her memoir, she never really fit into life at 24 Sussex. The age difference was hard to overcome.

Margaret Trudeau dances at Studio 54 in New York City in 1979. A few hours before this picture was taken, Pierre had conceded defeat in the Canadian federal election. (Canadian Press Archive)

She left her young familyfor long periodswith theboys in their father's care. Images of her dancing wildly in New York's fashionable Studio 54 surfaced in American tabloids, which became fodder for schoolyard bullies.

Trudeau, for his part, says his relationship with his mother was difficult in those early years, and a source of unhappiness.

"I remember the bad times as a succession of painful emotional snapshots: Me walking into the library at 24 Sussex, seeing my mother in tears and hearing her talk about leaving while my father stood facing her, stern and ashen," Trudeau writes inCommon Ground.His parentsseparated in 1977.

Later, Trudeau and his mother mended fencesand she went public with her struggles with bipolar disorder.

5. What is Justin Trudeau's stance on Bill C-51?

The Liberal Party was riding high in the polls for most of 2014 and into the first few months of this year until Bill C-51, the government's controversial anti-terror legislation, began to dominate the headlines.

Opinion polls showed the public wassolidly on side with government.One poll pegged support for the bill which gives sweeping new powers to CSISand increases information sharing between government departments at82 per cent in February.

That support eroded, and so too did the Liberal Party's poll numbers,as the NDP reaped the benefitsforitssteadfast opposition.

Trudeau gave his political rivals some ammunition when he said he would vote for the bill, in part, because the Conservatives would make "political hay" if hevoted against the legislation.

Ultimately, Trudeauhastouted his party's approachas the "middle ground," stating at this week's Munk leaders'debate that only the Liberal Party would strike the right balance between protecting rights and freedoms and keeping Canadians safe.