Justin Trudeau spoke to Jimmy Carter after health scare

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with former President Jimmy Carter after the 92-year-old international statesman endured a little health scare north of the border.

AJC reporter Jill Vejnoska has been monitoring Carter's situation, reporting on Friday:

The former president became dehydrated and needed medical attention on-site Thursday morning, which was Day Four of the five-day, 150-home building blitz across Canada. As a precaution, he was transported to St. Boniface General Hospital for rehydration; after being released Friday morning, he headed straight back to the building site with his wife, Rosalynn, to attend the morning devotional that kicked off the final day of the massive project.

Hard work in the heat prompted the brief medical emergency.

"President Carter has been working hard all week. He was dehydrated working in the hot sun," Habitat for Humanity CEO Jonathan Reckford said in a statement Thursday morning. " President Carter told us he is OK and is being taken off-site for observation. He encourages everyone to stay hydrated and keep building."

Carter has known the Canadian leader for, literally, Trudeau's entire life.

"We met him when he was still a baby in arms," he said Friday. "His mother and father brought him down to the White House when we were first president of the United States and we had a chance to meet him and to admire both his father, who was my great friend later on, and also his mother, who's still working very hard on mental health as you know."

Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, was twice prime minister of Canada, the first time from 1968 to 1979. Carter said the elder Trudeau helped school him “in a nice way” on world leaders and other aspects of his new job.

Carter served as an honorary pallbearer at Pierre Trudeau's funeral.

“(Trudeau) was the first one I invited to the White House,” he said. “We were long-time friends.”

About the Author

Jennifer Brett

I lead the AJC's team of breaking news, courts, crime and criminal justice reporters.

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