Justin Trudeau January 16, 1972, which marked his first public appearance. On April 14, 1972, Trudeau's father and mother hosted a gala at the National Arts Centre, at which visiting U.S. president Richard M. Nixon said, "I'd like to toast the future prime minister of Canada, to Justin Pierre Trudeau" to which Pierre Elliott Trudeau responded that should his son ever assume the role, he hoped he would have "the grace and skill of the president". Earlier that same day U.S. first lady Pat Nixon had come to see him in his nursery to deliver a gift, a stuffed toy Snoopy. Nixon's
Justin Trudeau and avalanche victims. After the event, an unsigned editorial in the "Creston Valley Advance" (a local newspaper) accused Trudeau of having groped an unnamed female reporter while at the music festival. The piece stated Trudeau provided a "day-late" apology to the reporter, saying, "If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I never would have been so forward." The editorial eventually resurfaced during his premiership, and in July 2018 he publicly said he didn't recall the incident. Several commentators described Trudeau's refusal to act on the allegation as hypocritical given his previous actions against others accused of