Federal government budgets $12M for Justin Trudeau's archives

Elizabeth Thompson · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 09, 2026 4:37 PM EST | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Canadian taxpayers could pay $12 million for former prime minister Justin Trudeau's records from his decade in office.

A single line in the federal budget tabled on Thursday reveals that the government has budgeted $3 million a year for the next four years to enable Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to "acquire, preserve and provide Canadians with access to the records of Canada's 23rd Prime Minister Justin Trudeau."

While Trudeau's official photographer, Adam Scotti, donated files to the federal agency, the archives has not yet acquired Trudeau's records, said Patrick Boissonneault, communications adviser at Library and Archives Canada.

Boissonneault said none of the $12 million would go to Trudeau.

There is an established tradition of prominent politicians donating their private records.

Typically, Library and Archives Canada assesses the material that is being offered and determines its monetary value. If LAC decides to acquire the records, the donor then receives a tax receipt for that amount, since the records are considered a gift of cultural property.

Boissonneault said the amount of the tax credit is considered a private matter between the Canada Revenue Agency and the donor.

Over the years, LAC has acquired the records of every former Canadian prime minister with the exception of R.B. Bennett, who served from 1930-35 and John Diefenbaker, who was prime minister from 1957-63, he said.

The cost of archiving prime ministerial papers has varied over the years.

"Past PM paper initiatives include $1.4 million for the records of prime ministers Brian Mulroney, Joseph Clark, John Turner and Kim Campbell," Boissoneault said.

The records from Jean Chrétien's decade in office cost $3.8 million while his successor Paul Martin's roughly two years of archives cost $1.7 million.

The archives spent $8.3 million to acquire, process and preserve the archives of Stephen Harper, Trudeau's predecessor.

Harper served from February 2006 to November 2015 — four months longer than Trudeau.

CBC News has asked Library and Archives Canada why the cost of the Trudeau archives is higher than Harper's but has not yet received a response.

Library and Archives faces budget cuts

The funding for Trudeau's records — more costly than Harper's, even when taking inflation into account — comes as Library and Archives has been hard hit by budget cuts under Prime Minister Mark Carney's government. In its most recent planning report, the archives said it has to reduce its spending by $11.1 million in 2026-27 and another $14.7 million in 2027-28 — the year the new funding for the Trudeau archives is set to begin.

A third cut of $22.1 million is expected for 2028-29.

By the end of the cuts, Library and Archives Canada expects to eliminate the equivalent of 161 full-time positions.

In the report, it says it plans to find the money by discontinuing the Documentary Heritage Communities Program, which helps smaller archives across the country, and gradually reduce its access to information and privacy (ATIP) functions and its proactive review of historical records.

"These changes to its budget and workforce will directly affect LAC's operations and its ability to fully deliver on its expected results," the archives wrote.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper's archives cost taxpayers about $8.3 million. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

The budget for Trudeau's records comes after Harper celebrated the launch of his records collection earlier this year.

Harper's records include 49.2 metres of textual records and 1.2 million digital photographs, sound recordings, digital moving images and video cassettes. They were the first time that a prime minister's records consisted of a large number of digital files.

During the event to launch Harper's collection, Jennifer Schofield, Library and Archives Canada assistant deputy minister of collections, said LAC invested considerable effort to preserve the records.

"We have a long-standing tradition of acquiring the private records of former prime ministers — photographs, audiovisual materials, paper files and in Mr. Harper's case, terabytes of digital records," she said.

Schofield said Harper's files "marked the largest digital archival acquisition ever undertaken by Library and Archives Canada at the time."

• 20 years after his first election win, Stephen Harper steps back into the spotlight

• Library and Archives Canada wraps up digitization of 6 million Indian day school records

• Ex-PMs' archived papers include love letters, $500 — even a molar

Since leaving office, Trudeau has been travelling the world, carrying out a number of speaking engagements.

In September, he launched a new production company called Hope & Hard Work with his former chief of staff Katie Telford.

On Friday, the University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government announced that Trudeau was named a distinguished fellow and a member of the school's World Leaders Circle. Other members of the circle include former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, former U.K. prime minister Rishi Sunak and former Colombian president Iván Duque.

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Trudeau said the challenges facing governments around the world require thoughtful leadership.

"I look forward to contributing my experience, exchanging perspectives with fellow leaders and engaging with the next generation of government and policy leaders as we consider how governments can respond to change and build a more hopeful, inclusive and prosperous future for everyone," he said.