--- description: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered an emotional statement about the death of Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie title: Watch Justin Trudeau Break Down Remembering Gord Downie image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01dc4698f8ab7bb1/6988e288e76ad2796162f9b2/justin-trudeau.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Canada](/tag/canada/) ## Canada Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Justin Trudeau Break Down Remembering Gord Downie: 'Gord Was My Friend'  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Oct 18, 2017 8:27 PM CUT  Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sheds tears as he speaks with media about the terminal brain cancer death of Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie in Ottawa on Oct. 18, 2017. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sheds tears as he speaks with media about the terminal brain cancer death of Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie in Ottawa on Oct. 18, 2017.Adam Scotti—Prime Minister's Office/Reuters  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Oct 18, 2017 8:27 PM CUT [Prime Minister Justin Trudeau](http://time.com/4977443/justin-trudeau-canada-most-powerful-women/ "undefined") wept while remembering late Canadian music icon Gord Downie. Downie, the longtime frontman of rock band The Tragically Hip and [Canada’s](http://time.com/4952822/justin-trudeau-canada-indigenous-peoples/ "undefined") unofficial poet laureate, died of brain cancer on Tuesday at age 53\. Trudeau gave reporters an emotional, bilingual statement about his death on Wednesday morning, tears rolling down his cheeks all the while. “Gord was my friend. Gord was everyone’s friend, it’s who we were,” Trudeau said. “Our buddy Gord, who loved this country with everything he had—and not just loved it in a nebulous, ‘Oh, I love Canada’ way. He loved every hidden corner, every story, every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life.” Halfway through his statement, Trudeau became so emotional he had to pause his prepared remarks. “I thought I was going to make it through this, but I’m not,” he said. “It hurts.” Watch Trudeau’s full address in the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4988262/justin-trudeau-gord-downie-tragically-hip-canada/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4988262/justin-trudeau-gord-downie-tragically-hip-canada/"},"headline":"Watch Justin Trudeau Break Down Remembering Gord Downie: 'Gord Was My Friend'","datePublished":"2017-10-18T20:27:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:55:00.108Z","description":"Trudeau gave an emotional statement about the Tragically Hip frontman","url":"https://time.com/4988262/justin-trudeau-gord-downie-tragically-hip-canada/","keywords":["Canada","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01dc4698f8ab7bb1/6988e288e76ad2796162f9b2/justin-trudeau.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01dc4698f8ab7bb1/6988e288e76ad2796162f9b2/justin-trudeau.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trudeau sheds tears as he speaks with media about the death of Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie in Ottawa","caption":"Trudeau sheds tears as he speaks with media about the death of Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie in Ottawa","creditText":"Adam Scotti—Prime Minister's Office/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/canada/","name":"Canada"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4988262/justin-trudeau-gord-downie-tragically-hip-canada/","name":"Watch Justin Trudeau Break Down Remembering Gord Downie: 'Gord Was My Friend'"}}]}] ```