Trudeau, Mulcair are related, genealogy site claims

TORONTO – Will news that Justin Trudeau is related to Thomas Mulcair increase the odds of a Liberal-NDP coalition?

According to Ancestry.ca, the likely leader of the federal Liberals and the leader of the NDP are cousins.

The two Quebec politicians have shared French-Canadian ancestors, according to the genealogy website, making them ninth cousins.

“It’s always fun to find a family connection between two people who are closely tied through their work, but it becomes even more interesting when they are rivals, whether in business or politics,” said Lesley Anderson, a family historian and content specialist with Ancestry.ca, in a release.

Trudeau and Mulcair share a connection that goes back 400 years to their eighth great-grandparents Mathieu Amiot and Marie Miville, who wed in 1650.

Amiot worked as an interpreter for the Jesuits and, when he married Miville, became a successful landowner thanks to her dowry.

“It’s amazing to think that a marriage that took place almost 400 years ago could produce two of the three major political players of a country that didn’t formally exist when the marriage took place,” said Anderson. “I think they would have been proud of their legacy.”