First Lady of Canada

Oct 19, 2015 | Tags: , | Category: First Ladies

Sophie Grégoire, First Lady of Canada (wife of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau)

Sophie Grégoire, First Lady of CanadaSophie Grégoire (born April 24, 1975) is a Canadian television host. She is actively involved in charity work and public speaking, focusing mainly on women’s issues.

Grégoire was born on April 24, 1975, in Montreal, Quebec, the only child of Estelle Blais, a nurse, and Jean Grégoire, a stockbroker. Her family lived north of the city, in Sainte-Adèle, Quebec, until relocating to Montreal when she was four years old. She was raised thereafter in Montreal’s Mount Royal suburb, where she was a classmate and childhood friend of Michel Trudeau, the youngest son of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and brother of Grégoire’s future husband, Justin Trudeau.

Grégoire has stated that her “childhood was a happy one”, noting that she was a good student who made friends easily and loved sports and the outdoors. However, beginning around the age of 17, she struggled with bulimia nervosa. The problem lasted into her early 20s, when she revealed the illness to her parents and subsequently began a two-year period of recovery; she credits therapy, the support of her loved ones, and yoga with her recovery from the disease.

Grégoire attended high school at the private Pensionnat du Saint-nom-de-Marie in Outremont. She subsequently studied commerce at McGill University, intending to follow her father’s career path, but soon switched to communications, and ultimately graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the Université de Montréal.

Grégoire first met Justin Trudeau, the eldest son of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, when they were both children growing up in Montreal, where Grégoire was a classmate and childhood friend of the youngest Trudeau son, Michel. Grégoire and Trudeau reconnected as adults in June 2003, when they were assigned to co-host a charity ball, and began dating several months later. They became engaged in October 2004, and married on May 28, 2005 in a Catholic ceremony at Montreal’s Sainte-Madeleine d’Outremont Church. They have three children: Xavier James Trudeau (born October 2007), Ella-Grace Margaret Trudeau (born February 2009), and Hadrien Trudeau (born February 2014).

Grégoire is reported to have introduced her brother-in-law Alexandre to his future wife Zoë Bedos.

After her husband became a Member of Parliament for Montreal’s Papineau riding in 2008, Grégoire continued to live in their Montreal home with their children, while Trudeau stayed at a hotel in Ottawa during the week. In June 2013, two months after Trudeau became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, the couple sold their home in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood and began living in a rented home in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa. Gregoire’s husband became the Prime Minister designate of Canada on October 19, 2015, in a decisive victory over then Prime Minister and main opponent, Stephen Harper. Grégoire is fluent in French, English, and Spanish. She became a certified yoga instructor in 2012.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Gr%C3%A9goire

Laureen Harper, First Lady of Canada (wife of Prime Minister Stephen Harper)

Laureen Harper, First Lady of Canada

Laureen Teskey Harper (born 1963) is the wife of Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada since February 6, 2006 and Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Laureen was born in Turner Valley, a rural town located in the Rocky Mountain foothills just southwest of Calgary. Her parents were ranchers and owned an electrical contracting company.

Upon graduating from Oilfields High School in 1981, Laureen attended the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary where she studied photography and graphic arts.

After graduation she spent six months travelling in Africa where she visited 13 different countries, and therefore she has been interested in African topics since that time. She returned to Calgary and was employed for many years as a graphic artist.

Laureen started her own business in Calgary in 1989 and continued it until 2002. She moved to Ottawa after her husband was elected Leader of the Official Opposition in March 2002.

Laureen’s volunteer efforts involve computer work for Rockcliffe Elementary School’s annual book sale and the local library. She also offers her home to the Ottawa SPCA as a foster home for kittens.

In her spare time she enjoys riding her motorcycle, newly purchased this past fall. She also has a love of photography and gardening.

She and Stephen have two children, Ben (born 1996) and Rachel (born 1999).