The handsome, articulate and sensitive son of Canada's most popular prime minister, Justin Trudeau quickly became a darling on the world stage after taking the reins himself in 2015.
But with a federal election just months away, Mr Trudeau is engulfed in a corruption scandal, down in the polls and facing calls to resign.
A second high-profile minister resigned on Monday, saying she had lost confidence in the government and some in the Canadian media are now comparing Mr Trudeau to Donald Trump – a politician who could scarcely be more different personally and ideologically.
So where did it all go wrong for the wonder boy of Canadian politics?
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing calls to resign. (AP/AAP)THE SCANDAL
Canada was rocked last week when Mr Trudeau's former attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould told a House of Commons justice committee that the prime minister, his staff and other officials had imposed inappropriate pressure on her to avoid criminal prosecution of Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin in a case involving allegations of corruption in Libya.
The star minister said she was urged to reach an agreement that would let the company pay reparations but avoid a conviction.
If convicted criminally, the company would be banned from receiving any federal government business for a decade.
SNC-Lavalin is a major employer in Quebec, with about 3400 employees in the province, 9000 employees in Canada and more than 50,000 worldwide.
The testimony of cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould (right) sent shockwaves through Canada. (AP/AAP)Mr Trudeau has acknowledged raising the issue with Ms Wilson-Raybould, but said it was appropriate.
"Canadians expect their government to look for ways to protect jobs," Mr Trudeau said last Thursday.
"That's exactly what we have done every step of the way.
"We have also done it in a way that has respected our laws and respected the independence of the judiciary.
"There are no doubt disagreements in perspective on this but I can reassure Canadians that we were doing our job and we were doing in a way that respects and defends our institutions."
But the crisis deepened this week when Jane Philpott, who had held several portfolios in Mr Trudeau's cabinet before becoming treasury board president, also announced she was quitting.
"The solemn principles at stake are the independence and integrity of our justice system," she said in her resignation letter.
"Sadly, I have lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised.
"There can be a cost to acting on one's principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them."
Gerald Butts, the prime minister's closest adviser and best friend, resigned last month as the allegations mounted.
The leader of the opposition Conservative Party Andrew Scheer said this week Ms Philpott's resignation demonstrates "a government in total chaos", calling again for Mr Trudeau to resign and demanding a police investigation of the affair.
ON THE SLIDE
The scandal marks a steep fall from public adoration for Mr Trudeau, 47, who is seen by some in his home country as possessing more style than substance.
An Ipsos poll for Canadian outlet Global News, conducted after the scandal broke but before Ms Philpott's resignation, found Mr Trudeau would only receive 31 per cent of the popular vote if an election were held tomorrow – a fall of three points from just weeks earlier.
The Conservative opposition, led by Mr Scheer, was on track to receive 40 per cent of the vote, their highest polling since the last election.
The polling is almost a direct reversal of the 2015 election results.
Mr Trudeau's stumbles were drawn into sharp focus during his disastrous trip to India last February.
A Sikh secessionist, previously convicted of attempting to kill a government minister and a former member of a terrorist group, was invited to a dinner and posed for photos with Mr Trudeau's wife at a time of rising tensions in India.
Mr Trudeau's 2018 Indian trip was plagued by scandals and gaffes. (EPA/AAP)Cringeworthy images of a smiling Mr Trudeau performing a folk dance also raised eyebrows.
"Trudeau has come across as flighty and facetious," Indian journalist Barkha Dutt wrote in the Washington Post.
"His orchestrated dance moves and multiple costume changes in heavily embroidered kurtas and sherwanis make him look more like an actor on a movie set or a guest at a wedding than a politician who is here to talk business.
"Suddenly, all that charisma and cuteness seem constructed, manufactured and, above all, not serious."
WILL HE SURVIVE?
Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said the spate of resignations was a "a spectacular blow to the government".
"It has become rare that ministers resign on principle in Canada," he told the Associated Press.
"And now we've had two in such a short time.
"It reveals deep division in the Cabinet about how to deal with Jody Wilson-Raybould."
Prof. Wiseman said he believed Liberal lawmakers wanted to kick Ms Wilson-Raybould out of the party and Ms Philpott does not agree with them.
Prof. Wiseman said the last time he can recall something like this was in 1963 when three Cabinet ministers resigned over then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's opposition to the stationing of American nuclear weapons on Canadian soil.
"This blow won't bring down the government, and Trudeau, like Diefenbaker, will survive and fight back," Prof. Wiseman said.
Mr Trudeau denies any wrongdoing. (AP/AAP)Robert Bothwell, a professor at the University of Toronto, said the resignations spoke to Mr Trudeau's failure to connect with his colleagues.
"His failure to give a vigorous but reasoned response at the beginning of this pseudo-scandal allowed it to grow into Godzilla," Prof. Bothwell said.
Prof. Bothwell said Mr Trudeau was not like his father, the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who swept to office in 1968 on a wave of support dubbed "Trudeaumania" and governed for most of the next two decades.
"Previous prime ministers benefited from experience and seniority, or respect, or fear, or just the feeling that they knew the way better than anybody else. Trudeau the father had all these attributes," Prof. Bothwell said.
The Canadian election is due to be held on or before October 21.
With CNN, Associated Press.
Wonder if it'll cost him the election.
-PB