Margaret Trudeau comes to Word on the Street Festival

Baby boomers can get some advice from a Trudeau this weekend as Margaret Trudeau, mother of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and former wife of late prime minister Pierre Trudeau, makes her way to Saskatoon this weekend for the Word on the Street Festival.

On Sunday, Trudeau will share her latest book entitled The Time of Your Life: Choosing a vibrant joyful future which focuses on how seniors can make the most of their later years. The memoir, which came out in March, features information from experts and Trudeau’s own thoughts on senior life.

“First of all, I turned 65 and I went ‘oh’ and my mom passed and I went ‘oh’ because I don’t have a mommy or father anymore; I’m the elder,” Trudeau said. “And it slowly starting creeping up on me, signs after signs, that I better take a look at what’s lying ahead for us baby boomers.”

Trudeau said she was frequently told seniors disappeared into the background as they aged, but she wanted to find out if there was silver lining to getting silver haired.

“And then I realized of course there is. If we just have our health, strength, mental health sorted out, we can be as free as we’ve ever been in our lives,” she said, adding freedom from former responsibilities such as work and children also plays a role.

The book is Trudeau’s fourth memoir following Beyond Reason (1979), Consequences (1982), and Changing My Mind (2010). Living from bipolar disorder, Trudeau is also an active advocate for mental health research and help, with such themes appearing in her latest book.

Trudeau said the first thing seniors must do is ask themselves who they are, what they want and how they seem themselves in the next stage of their life.

Trudeau will speak about her new book Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Brave New World tent outside the Frances Morrison Library.