Justin Trudeau, Canada’s new prime minister, had a joyful swearing-in ceremony on Nov. 4 that featured everything from Inuit throat-singing to an exuberant “selfie-ocean” that surrounded him as he greeted crowds afterward.
But the occasion may be most well-remembered outside of Canada for Trudeau’s matter-of-fact answer to a question about his new cabinet at a press conference afterward. His new cabinet is made up of 15 men and 15 women, the first time in Canadian history that there has been an equal number.
Why, a reporter asked, was “gender parity” so important to you? Trudeau, a proud feminist, responded with a shrug, and said “Because it’s 2015.”
Trudeau’s cabinet includes former Reuters journalist and executive Chrystia Freeland, who will be head of international trade, and former Afghanistan refugee Maryam Monsef, who is the minister of democratic institutions.