SADIQ KHAN (Mayor of London): Welcome to City Hall.  Who's excited? 

SADIQ KHAN: Oh, come on.  Who's excited? 

SADIQ KHAN: Okay.  It's going to be a great morning.  I want to speak for a little while, then bring on our two guests.  And the reason why you're here today is this year we are... we have a big campaign called "Behind Every Great City.”  Behind every great city is equality, is opportunity, and is progress, and we're really keen to make sure this year we take advantage of it, being 100 years since the first women got the right to vote.  And I've got with me on stage now, and you're going to probably raise the roof and make me have to bring in the builders when I ask them to come on stage, but two of the leading feminists in the world, and they're in positions of power and influence, and they are amazing people.  They're going to stay a couple of minutes to kick things off, and they're going to take questions from you.  So I want you to raise the roof when I introduce, firstly, the Prime Minister for Canada, and then secondly, the Prime Minister for New Zealand.  So, are you ready? 

AUDIENCE: Yes.                                                                              

SADIQ KHAN: Now, are you excited?

AUDIENCE: Yes! 

SADIQ KHAN: So let's give a big, warm, London welcome to the Prime Minister from Canada, Justin Trudeau. 

SADIQ KHAN: And we can do better.  The Prime Minister from New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern.

SADIQ KHAN: So Justin and Jacinda have very kindly agreed to take as many questions as we can fit in to their busy schedule.  This is the first public event either of them are doing, because they are keen to listen to young Londoners and take your questions.  Next week in Parliament Square, we're going to unveil the first‑ever statue of a woman.  Who's going to come along?

SADIQ KHAN: Yeah.  So, look, so what we're going to do is I'll speak to your teachers, by the way, for those students, and you can come along as well.

UNIDENTIFIED: Yeah.

SADIQ KHAN: We're going to take questions from you.  Before we take the questions, I've got a list of those of you who wanted to ask a question.  I've got your names down here.  Can I just check, we've got Heartlands High here?

AUDIENCE: Whoo.

SADIQ KHAN: Oh, that wasn't loud enough.  

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU (Prime Minister of Canada): I don't think they're here.  They're definitely not here.

SADIQ KHAN: Okay, then.  Are Deptford Green here?

AUDIENCE: Yeah!

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: They might be here.

SADIQ KHAN: St. Xavier's and St. Olave's?

AUDIENCE: Yeah!!

SADIQ KHAN: They're definitely here.

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Definitely here. 

SADIQ KHAN: So I'm going to ask the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin, to say a few words, and then we're going to ask Jacinda, the Prime Minister of New Zealand to say a few words, and then we're going to open it up.  Is that okay?  Justin, over to you. 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Listen, one of the great things about this job is an opportunity to sit down and meet with a huge range of people of different backgrounds.  But my favourite thing to do is to meet with young people, because the way you're asking questions about everything, the way you're challenging us, society, to think differently, to evolve, to change, to be challenged, is super important, in politics, but in just about every area.  As we're going through a time of tremendous change, getting young people to realize that you are not unlike what people tell you, the leaders of tomorrow, you're already leaders today, and what you do today, and the actions you take right now, have a deep, deep impact.  And one of the things that we're going to talk about today, which is so important, is we all have important voices to raise, every single one of us, and on the issue of feminism, obviously, that means making sure that girls are speaking loud and proud, but it also means that men have to be part of the solution.  Guys need to speak up, be proud of saying that, yes, we are feminists, because we know that men and women need to be equal, and there's a lot of work to do.  That's what we have to do together, and that's why I'm so glad to be here to hear your questions.

SADIQ KHAN: Now, before I introduce Jacinda, can I just say this:  There are many claims to fame she has, but the biggest thing that I'm most proud of is that she spent two‑and‑a‑half years living in London.  So we have a Londoner who is the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern.

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister of New Zealand): Thank you, Sadiq.  I got nervous when you said "biggest claim to fame," because I immediately think about my front (inaudible) when anyone makes a reference like that.  It's really wonderful to be here with you today, and I really want to leave mostly... I want to leave time for questions.  So I want to hear from you what you're interested in hearing from us about.  But one thing I did want to say was congratulations on celebrating a hundred years of women’s suffrage.  In New Zealand we're celebrating 125 years of women's suffrage...

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Show off.

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: And I was about say, despite being really proud of that, I think we always have to be careful that we're not complacent.  You know, even having a female prime minister does not mean that you have achieved equality.  As long as we have a gender pay gap, as long as we have women who are overrepresented in low‑paid work, as long as we have women who are more likely to experience domestic violence, then there is a lot of work to do.  And so for me, the issue of equality, it spans across so many areas.  And so I'm so pleased to know that there's no complacency here, because we do need to make sure that we just keep working to make things better and better, so that in the future your children, my children, these things won't be child.  If I say children, plural, Clarke gets very nervous.

So that things will be better for that next generation than they even are now.  So thank you for being so interested in this really important topic. 

SADIQ KHAN: So look, both Justin and Jacinda don't want to make long speeches, and they've got no idea what questions you're going to ask, so fingers crossed this works.  So I've got the...  the first three names I've got down here, just the names, I don't have the questions, so the first round we're going to do Nabila (ph) first from Heartlands High, then Dixie Lee (ph) from Deptford Green, and then Ty Ho (ph) from St. Xavier's.  So Nabila first.  Where's Nabila?  Let the mic come over to you.  I think Nabila's teacher is there, about to give her a clap before she asks the question, but Nabila, first question.

QUESTION: Who are your female role models? 

SADIQ KHAN: Great first question.  Dixie Lee?  Where's Dixie Lee?  Okay.  Just wait for the mic behind you.  Turn around.  

QUESTION: What advice would you give to a girl like me looking to become Prime Minister? 

SADIQ KHAN: Now, Dixie, I'm glad you said prime minister, not mayor. 

SADIQ KHAN: Ty Ho?  Just pass it back to Ty Ho.  Yeah.

QUESTION: Hi.  My question is about the gender stereotyping as we grow up, and people say that men can only do certain things and women can only do certain things, and how can we make sure that girls and boys get the same opportunities? 

SADIQ KHAN: Jacinda, do you want to kick things off, and then we'll come to Justin afterwards? 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: Yeah.  I'll try and cover all of those at once.  My answer to my role model is really cheesy, but it's true.  My...  my mother is a huge role model to me, and I think probably we always draw inspiration from the people who are closest to us.  But the thing that really has guided me through my life, and the values that I have, and the principles that are really important to me, and I learned from my parents, particularly I learned kindness and generosity from my mother.  You know, my mother was always...  you know, she, when I was growing up, she ran my school cafeteria, which was really handy come lunch time, but it meant she made a lot of sacrifices to make sure she was around for me and my sister.  But the principles and values she taught me about looking out for one another, always the kind of person who would be the first to take a lasagna to someone who needed one.  She taught me probably the principle that guides me in the leadership role I have every single day.  So, yes, we all have our heroes, people we may not even meet, but the ones in our everyday lives you can learn really important lessons from too. 

Advice to someone who wants to be a prime minister, great question.  You know, I've got a very quick question for all of you.  Who's got a dream job in mind?  Dream job.  Something you absolutely believe that would be the best thing in the world to do if you could do it.  Dream job.  Okay.  Is it the same thing as what you think you're going to do?  Now, when I do this back home, I'm always surprised at the number of hands that come down, that the thing that you would love to do most in the world might not be the thing that you actually think you're going to end up doing.  So my advice to anyone who wants to be a prime minister, never give up on believing that you can do it.  Because the biggest barrier, I think to... particularly for women, speaking in a general assumption, but I think the biggest barrier for us achieving some of our goals is our own belief that we can't.  Plenty of people are going to put barriers up for you.  You don't need to be one of them.  So just keep that self‑belief, because there are a lot of people out there that you would admire a lot, who have probably struggled with confidence themselves, and I'd say that I was one of them. 

SADIQ KHAN: Can I just ask you, when did you decide you wanted to be prime minister? 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: I didn't. 

SADIQ KHAN: Is it for the reasons you've said? 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: I just... I never saw myself being able to take on such a role.  I've always been really open about that.  It's just something that I thought was... was just something others did.  I absolutely believed I could do it, just never saw myself doing the role. 

SADIQ KHAN: Okay.  Justin? 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: I'm going to start with the last question.  The way we raise our kids on gender stereotyping, how we show you guys that you can do anything.  And for me, I spent a lot of years as a youth advocate, and as I got older and older and still tried to talk about youth, I'd project myself back.  But now I'm a dad, and when I think about youth, I look at my kids, and I project them forward.  And one of the things that I've realized, and I've talked about a lot is making sure that I raise my daughter to understand that she can do absolutely anything, that there should be no barriers, that she should have all the opportunities in the world.  But my wife, Sophie, who is actually one of my role models and inspirations as a woman, there's no question about it, pointed out to me that it's great that you're raising your daughter to be a feminist, and the thing about gender equality and know that she can do anything, but you've got to raise your sons as well, to be feminists, and to support their sister and, you know, girls around the world, to be able to know that they can do everything. 

And how we change mindsets, not just among women, but around men, and include men in the conversation on women's equality.  And if you think about it, we're in a situation where men are unfairly given more opportunities, more power, more weight to what they say and do, because we have an imbalance in our society.  Well, the men have to be encouraged and brought along to use that extra power and weight we give them to be part of making equality happen, to be part of the solution.  Men need to be allies and partners and supporters in the fight for equality, because it ends up helping us all. 

And the question about becoming PM, absolutely.  I totally support everything Jacinda said.  And I think the path towards politics, as you think about it, there's not one path that will lead you towards politics.  You don't say, okay, I've got to study in school and go into political science, and then start working on a political campaign.  I mean, that's a path, and some people do it, but anything that charges you up and gets you passionate, and gets you connecting with people and bringing people together and creating actions and impacts in the world, is a path towards political activity, and eventually, possibly, politics, if you still want to do that.  So be open to having a political impact as an active, engaged citizen, and you'll be amazed with how far that brings you. 

And the last comment is about needing to have more women wanting to become prime minister, able to become prime minister, able to be successful in politics.  And one of the things that we were able to do in Canada was appoint a gender‑balanced cabinet -- 50% men, 50% women -- in our government.  But in order to do that, I had to spend a few years trying to convince extraordinary women across Canada to step forward into politics.  And you really notice, when you're asking great people, and I asked great people of all sorts of backgrounds to come join me and step up into politics; when you ask a guy if he wants to go into politics, if he'll step forward into politics, his first question is usually something like, why did it take you so long to ask me?  There's this oh, great, I'm... good, I'm happy to do it.  If you ask a woman if she wants to come into politics, there's usually a pause, and it's exactly what Jacinda said, is, really? Do you think I'm good enough?  Do you think I have enough capacity?  Do you think... and you meet these people with extraordinary CVs, extraordinary backgrounds, but there is a system that keeps us doubting, or keeps women doubting that they can succeed.  And we really have to deliberately break down the barriers out there, but also the barriers in mindsets that happen, and having conversations like this are a big part of it. 

SADIQ KHAN: Okay.  So before the next round, so in our cabinet, there are actually very few women in the cabinet.  When Justin became prime minister in 2015, the first cabinet he appointed had half who were women, and when Justin was asked the question, what was your answer, Justin? 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Well, I said... 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: 20... 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Yeah.  I said it was 2015.  Why is it important to have half women, half men in government?  And it was a ridiculous question, so I said, because it is.  Because it's time that we stopped realizing that parity is some far‑off thing we have to reach to.  It's something we have to take concrete actions towards right now.  And the best thing about the gender‑balanced cabinet isn't the symbol, isn't the indication that it can be done or should be done, it's actually the kind of conversations and the substance of the debates we have and the solutions we put forward, which are better because we have a more diverse group of people making that decision.  And that's the fundamental thing. 

SADIQ KHAN: Okay.  The next round we've got from Deptford Green School.  Patrick.  Can somebody get the mic to Patrick?  Over here in the front row, the chap here.  And the second question is going to be to Kelly Parra (ph) from St. Xavier's.  Where's Kelly? 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: In the back. 

SADIQ KHAN: Okay.     Kelly is in the back.  And the third one is from Jamie McCarron‑Gammus (ph) from Heartlands High.  Where's Jamie?  Okay.  You first.  Yeah, over to you.

QUESTION: Do you support lowering the age at which I can vote to 16?  Why do you think it is important? 

SADIQ KHAN: Okay.  Currently it's 18 in the U.K.  So Kelly?

QUESTION: How can we help tackle gender inequality? 

SADIQ KHAN: Great question.  And the third question is from Jamie.

QUESTION: What does being a feminist mean to you? 

SADIQ KHAN: Great question.  We'll have Justin to go first, and let Jacinda respond second.  So Justin? 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: There is a long conversation in Canada about how we get more young people to vote, because over the past years, there was a real decline in young people taking an interest in politics.  And a lot of people said, oh, let's lower the voting age, we'll make voting mandatory like it is in some countries.  There's different things we can do to get young people to vote.  And I took a slightly different perspective on it.  I said, instead of, you know, trying to address the symptoms of the problems of young people not voting, let's try and address the root cause.  Why are young people not voting or not stepping up into politics?  Because I knew, from the work that I had been doing with young people, that it wasn't because they didn't care about politics or because they were cynical or because they're apathetic about the world, and if there was apathy and frustration, it was never because they don't care about...  you don't care about the world; it was very much about feeling that you're not given the tools to actually have an impact in the world you want to change, and therefore, there's frustration.  So we really focused on bringing young people into the conversation, empowering them in politics, and not just as volunteers and envelope stuffers, but actual... be part of the conversation to talk about how we're going to improve our society for the long term.  How we're going to take care of the big long‑term issues that young people are most focused on, whether it's, you know, the future of technology or the environment or human rights or Canada and the world.  These were all issues that mattered in a big way that young people wanted to talk about rather than a specific change to a tax system that might or might not made a big impact in the world. 

So being bold enough to have big conversations, brought young people in, in a way that we turned around and increased youth voting without having to lower the voting age.  Although we do have a great program in Canada where high school students who aren't voting age yet have fully organized mock elections so they can get used to the idea of voting, even though their votes don't count.  They get into the political process and start thinking about it in a way that leaves them ready to do it when they turn 18.

SADIQ KHAN: What about your views on New Zealand?  Is it 18 years in New Zealand? 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: It is.  It is.  And we have a turnout issue for our younger voters as well, but actually, we've had a turnout issue for younger voters for a number of years. It's not new, but we do worry about it.  We worry about it, because it means that this under-representation -- that young people are not having their voice heard.  And two things I would say on that.  I agree with Justin that, you know, one of the issues, as I perceive it in New Zealand is we have this skate...  skate park syndrome.  Go out and find out what young people feel about building skate parks in their local community, because surely that's what young people care about.  You know, when I go into schools, and it's one of my favourite things to do, and talk about the issues that young people are interested in talking about, it is more often than not things like child poverty, inequality, climate change.  The big issues that actually we're grappling with in government, but actually probably not doing enough to talk about; not doing enough to demonstrate that we're talking the action that young people really want us to take.  So why would a young person vote if they don't see anything from their representatives or their candidates that speak to the things they care about?  So that's one thing, actually talking about those issues that really matter, is the first thing. 

And the second thing, though, is I think we would be wrong to assume that voting is the only way that people have power.  Probably one of my biggest group of people who write to me will be children at primary school.  I get bundles and bundles of letters from children.  In fact, we had to bring in someone to help me, especially with the letters that I get from children, which I find wonderful, because it means that the end of a long... usually after I come from... we have this, in New Zealand, question time.  It's very shouty, and it's very robust, and so every time I'm in question time, I'll be answering a lot of questions from the opposition.   One of the things I do is I take down by folder of children's correspondence, down to the debating chamber.  So when I'm done with all the shouty questions, I look at pictures and drawings from children.  And they're not just sending me happy, Smiley faces.  They are most often sending me their worries in the world.  Turtles, and straws up turtles' noses, plastic bags in the sea.  They care deeply about issues that lots of people talk about.  We'd be wrong to think children and young people don't.  Now, those letters have an impact on me.  I'm talking about them now, because I see them so often.  There is power in petitions.  There's power in letters, and all of those have no age barrier in my country.  A 16‑year‑old could take a petition to parliament, and force parliament to consider it.  You don't have to vote to have power.  And so for me, it's about making sure that you have knowledge about the tools that you have in our system to make change.  

SADIQ KHAN: Another question, and both of you are prime ministers, and you've got huge power.  How do we fight gender inequality?  I mean, a big, big issue.  

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: We started to put a gender lens on just about everything we do, and that is recognizing that the policy a government puts forward has a different impact on men than it does on women.  You also think about intersectionality, and a woman who is from a visible minority, or the LGBTQ community, you get layers of discrimination that can add up, and we have to be really sensitive to all the challenges that hit people differently.   And when you start thinking about the impact of everything you do as a government with a diversity lens, with a gender lens, you suddenly come up with solutions that aren't just, you know, better or more popular, they're usually smarter.   And that's one of the big points that we've made, that gender equality is not just a societal or moral issue; it's actually a cold, hard economic issue.  Giving a full half of the population full opportunities to contribute, to lead, to achieve their fullest potential is the only way a society as a whole can achieve its potential. 

So making sure we're doing things that, yes, are within the traditional more gender equality issues of domestic violence or child care, or issues like that, yes, that's important, but it's also thinking about... just about everything else with that gender lens.  Construction projects in rural areas; if you're building a highway through a rural area, well, you have to think you're going to be sending a whole bunch of mostly men construction workers to far‑away towns and communities that's going to have an impact on that community, around violence, around... around gender issues.  We also have to think about how we make sure that through proactive pay legislation, women get paid the same as men for similar jobs. 

Now, Canada has done a lot with the gender‑balanced cabinet, with a gender budget that we put forward.  Our entire national budget had a gender lens on it in 2018... just a few months ago.  But when you actually look at the numbers, we're way down in terms of women in parliament, we’re way down in terms of women on boards, and we're actually fairly low in terms of actual gender parity in terms of the workplace.  So we recognize that... there's some things that we're talking about really well, but there's other things we're working on, but we've still got a really long way to go.  And that comment that Jacinda made about complacency, and knowing that we have to challenge ourselves to do better and constantly think about it, is the only way we close the gaps around gender equality.  

SADIQ KHAN: Jacinda, another question on what feminism means to you, as well, then. 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: Feminism means.  Who believes in equality?  Who believes in equality?  You are all feminists, because for me that is at its most simple.  That is what feminism is.  It's just that simple idea of fairness.  Now, lots of stereotypes hang off that word, lots of them.  We were talking about them, some of them, before, and all of you had such good insights into all the stereotypes that hang off that one word, and that comes with a word that has so much history, waves of history, different movements at different times, but if you drill it all back down, and if you just simplify it, feminism is about fairness and equality. 

Now, that means that actually the work that we have to do sits across a whole lot of areas.  And one of the things I sometimes get frustrated by is this idea that the only markers we have are women's representation.  We've had almost 40% women in our New Zealand parliament.  That's the highest we've had ever.  We, right now, have a female Governor General.  I'm a female, obviously, prime minister, a family chief justice.  Does it mean our work is done?  No.  Because, again, as I say, the measures that matter a lot to me, are about the ones in everyday life, and the experience that women have in the workplace and everyday life.  And that isn't just up to politicians; that's up to all of us.  So that's all why feminism, for me, is about everybody.  It's about men, it's about women, it's about making sure that everyone, no matter which workplace they're in, which school they're in, actually just gets a fair go, and we just try and weed out some of those... some of those very old‑fashioned behaviours.  

SADIQ KHAN: We're going to move on to the next round of questions.  We've got Zarielle, (ph) Adiola, (ph) and Catian(ph).  Where's Zarielle, from Heartlands?

 QUESTION: Hi.  I would like to know what does equality mean to you, and how can it be represented in society? 

SADIQ KHAN: Sorry.  Say that again?

 QUESTION: What is equality... mean to you...? 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: Equality. 

QUESTION: And what... how can it be represented in society? 

SADIQ KHAN: Great.  And Adiola?

QUESTION: Hi.  I was going to say congratulations on your pregnancy.  

SADIQ KHAN: Thanks very much.

QUESTION: And my question is, how do you deal with prejudice against women in politics? 

SADIQ KHAN: That's for you, clearly.  
Catian, from Deptford Green?

QUESTION: Thank you.  My question is, what should be done about the gender pay gap, and what are you doing about it? 

SADIQ KHAN: Great.  Great, great questions.  Do you want to...? 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: Yeah, I'll start.  On the gender pay gap, we're actually... at the moment, we have legislation that we're working on to make sure that actually we give a mechanism for people to close the gender... to make sure that we can address some of our pay‑equity issues.  So we're doing it through a couple of ways, but the law is one of them.  But I'll leave Justin, perhaps, to pick up a bit more on that one as well. 

We actually, just not long, had a landmark court case, where home care workers, people who looked at the elderly, we went through a process and really challenged the idea that they were being paid fairly, and the court found them in favour.  And it's made a massive difference in pay increase for those predominantly women who work as home care workers.  So that's the kind of... what we're trying to do, but without you having to go through the courts to achieve it. 

On the issues, inequality... issues based on politics, I'm lucky.  I'm the third female prime minister in my country, the third.  That's really remarkable, when you think about some of our other... other countries, and some who are just having their first.  We're on our third.  And I have to say that those women really paved the way for me.  They've made a huge difference in the kind of experience that I'm now having in leadership.  Having said that, probably I had just as many difficulty moments when I was outside of politics as I do in.  I still remember one of my very early jobs.  My first boss, who was a woman, told me I would never get promoted unless I cut my hair.  I haven't cut my hair since.   I have... I'm like Sampson now.  There's so much on principle. 

SADIQ KHAN: Can I say, Justin had the same problem. 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: Because she thought I didn't look serious, and that no one would ever take me seriously as a woman if I had long hair.  I know that's a really trivial little example, but I just use it to say that, actually, yes, in politics I do experience bits of it here and there, but I have a lot of people who come in and defend when it happens.   When I was in that workplace, there was no one else but me to take it on by myself, and that was probably harder in a lot of ways.  And so that's why I'm really conscious that even if we look like we're weeding it out in the high places, we've got to think about the other workplaces too, and we've got to look out for one another in those workplaces.  And so, perhaps, then, my experience isn't quite as bad as others I've seen. 

One other final thing I'll say is that when I was elected to be the leader of the Labour Party in New Zealand, I was the youngest member of that caucus, and I was a woman, and all the MPs on my team backed me.  So having a great team around you really makes a difference too. 

SADIQ KHAN: Cracking answer.  Justin? 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: On the gender pay gap, I think it's important as well that we recognize what the gender pay gap is.  It's not... if you go to a bank and there's two bank tellers in front of you, and one is a man, one is a woman, that they might make a different salary, although if they're not making the same salary there's a problem there for the same seniority, same years of experience, same job.  It's in different types of jobs.  I mean, Jacinda talked about home care workers that are more predominantly women, but that might be the same amount of training, the same kind of challenging job as a job in... being a building engineer or more custodial services, or something that is more male dominated.  So it's looking at different types of jobs and seeing, oh, if this one is more of a women‑dominated job, and that one is more of a male‑dominated job, and they have about the same degree of difficulty, and that's sort of a challenge, or degree of quality or value, making sure that what happens right now is that the women's jobs are usually underpaid, that you raise the salaries of those women's jobs so that it's fairer across the board.  And that's a fairly complicated thing to do within society.  We're doing it within our public service.  We're also putting forward legislation that we're working on.  We should compare notes on how we're doing it.  But it's something, actually, that comes a little more easy, because larger companies are now much more computer, you know, savvy, and the HR departments are all plugged in, in terms of salaries.  You can actually have more transparency on who's getting paid what, and constantly checking.  Paid equity is not about just bringing in a law and saying, okay, you have to adjust everything.  It's about iterating and checking in every few years to make sure that you're doing better every time.  It's not an end, it's a process, and doing that is going to be really, really important. 

Around women and politics and prejudice, we're going through, in politics, in Canada, and around the world, the same kinds of things that are happening in Hollywood, in the banking industry, in, you know, so many different industries, which is the "MeToo” movement, a sense of Time's Up, that harassment in the workplace is unacceptable in any place, in any way.  And starting with a position of support and belief for anyone who comes forward with a story of harassment seems like a simple thing, but it's really, really important.  When, usually a woman, comes forward with a story of being harassed, intimidated or sexually assaulted or harassed at work, these, we have to, as a society, do a much better job of believing and supporting and moving forward with them in that.  There's still a huge amount of stigma and challenge, and we have to bring that more into the open and deal with it through processes that are actually supportive and fair. 

And the old boys' club, and the idea that, oh, we're going to, you know, brush it under the rug, that we have to stop, and we've done significant strides in parliament.  But there are huge challenges, because harassment and sexual assault is usually, if not always, about power dynamics as well, and politics is a hugely hierarchical structure with massive power dynamics and young volunteers, and people who are in danger of losing their job for random reasons.  There's a huge amount of work we all have to do, but it starts with all of us standing up clearly and strongly together and saying, this behaviour is unacceptable, and it's going to stop.  And that's what we need your generation to understand and be part of, pushing the change, because, you know, some older generations still don't get it.  

SADIQ KHAN: Was somebody at the back telling me... sorry, I think which means time... Which must mean time is up... 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: We're right across from the Tower of London, and we probably shouldn't be doing that.  

SADIQ KHAN: So can I just say a couple of things first.  I want Jacinda and Justin to have just 30 seconds each just to wind up and say final words, because they've both got really incredibly busy diaries.  There are 53 separate heads of government here in London.  They've got meetings with some of them.  They've got meetings with the royal family, with the Prime Minister, members of the cabinet, and they've made time to come and listen to and speak to young Londoners.  So before I ask you, Jacinda and Justin, to say a few words, can I ask us to show our London appreciation to the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin and Jacinda.  

SADIQ KHAN: Now, before Jacinda goes first, just, when they're finished, we're going to jump down... hopefully, all of us are going to jump down and have a photograph... 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: I'm going to take the stairs. 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Walk carefully down the stairs, yes.

SADIQ KHAN: We'll take a team photograph which we'll send to you and stuff.  So Jacinda over to you. 

RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN: I'm going to be really quick.  I just wanted to say thank you for caring.  Thank you for caring about issues that are really important no matter where you live in the world.  And I actually say the same thing that Justin says quite often.  I get frustrated by this ‘leaders of tomorrow’ issue.  No one knows what it is to be a 15, 16, 17‑year‑old in 2018 living in London, but you do.   Your experience is unique.  Your views, therefore, are important.   So never let anyone tell us that they're not. 

I first joined a political movement at 17, and because I wanted to change the world, I started by delivering leaflets.  You can start with anything, and you'll never know where that journey will take you.  So don't let anyone diminish the importance of your opinions. 

And finally, you live in an amazing city.   I loved living in London.  I lived in Brixton and Vauxhall when I last lived in London.  I loved being here.  You have a lot to be proud of in your city.  Diversity is one of them.  But your Mayor is pretty cool as well, so thanks for having us. 

SADIQ KHAN: Thank you.  Justin? 

RT HON. JUSTIN TRUDEAU: My message, very similar to Jacinda's.   You matter.  What you do matters, and equality obviously is something that matters to all of us.  The idea of fairness is something that's ingrained in humans.  We want the world to be fair, even though in so many ways it's not.  In the ways that we can make it fairer, your words matter.  Your actions matter.  If you see someone making fun or bullying against someone, step up, step in.  If you have a capacity to change the way people think, to challenge the world around you, and to gather people with you to continue that challenge to do the right thing; be brave, be bold, look for ways to have that impact to shape the world around... the world will be what you all make it, and you have to understand that you do have the power to shape the world. 

And ultimately, you know, as has been said many times, you will not define your own success and your happiness by what you get from the world, but how you shape the world around you, how you have an impact on the world, how you bring meaning and relevance to your life through how you impact and shape your community.   So know that the choices you make are actually not just shaping your lives, but the whole world you're part of.  And the opportunity for us to see and hear and be inspired as we go off to speak with a whole bunch of different heads of government, to be connected to all of you is the best possible way I could start this day and any day. 

Thank you for continuing to inspire me and reassuring me that our future and our present is in very good hands. 

SADIQ KHAN: Justin, Jacinda, thank you very much.