Justin Trudeau hosts Google Hangout with schoolkids on day 1 as PM - Action News
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Justin Trudeau hosts Google Hangout with schoolkids on day 1 as PM

Justin Trudeau was sworn in as Canada's 23rd prime minister Wednesday morning, and he took full advantage of digital tools to share the experience widely.

People are joining Canada's 23rd prime minister today in Google Hangouts, on Periscope, and elsewhere online

Students from five different schools across Canada were able to ask questions of their new prime minister in a video chat, just hours after he'd been sworn in. (YouTube/Prime Minister of Canada)

Justin Trudeauwas officiallysworn in as Canada's 23rd prime minister on Wednesday, and true to what we've seen from him since2015's electioncampaign, he's taking full advantage of digital tools to share the experience widely online.

The Liberal Party of Canada started promoting a live Periscope feed of Trudeau's swearing-in ceremony on Wednesdaymorning at approximately 9 a.m. ET.

As the ceremony was beginning, Trudeau himself shared a link to the live video feedwith his 956,000 followers.

While Periscope does not publicly displaythe total numberof people who viewed a particular broadcast, Trudeau's approximately one hour and 10-minute-long ceremony stream earned just under 5,000 hearts (which are similarto "likes") and prompted a steady stream of user comments.

Periscope users attempted to type along the lyrics to 'O Canada' during the latter part of Justin Trudeau's swearing in ceremony Wednesday morning. (Periscope/CBC News screenshot)

A live webcast of the swearing-in ceremony was also available for public viewing on the Governor General's website.

Following the swearing-inceremony, a Google Hangout was scheduled to take place withPrime Minister Trudeauand Canadianschoolchildren from five different regions across the country.

While initially slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET, the chat was delayed about one hour.

It appears to have been worth the wait for thestudentsparticipating, however.Thejust under 13-minute-long, bilingual Hangout was a hit among those commenting and live-tweeting along with the discussion particularly among teachers who used the discussion as an educational tool.

Just ahead of the chat, Trudeau tweeted a photo of himself at the swearing-in ceremony and wrote that he was"honoured to be sworn in today as 23rd Prime Minister of Canada."

Trudeau also addressed Canadians in alengthy status update on hisFacebook pagearound 2 p.m. ET.

"Today, I had the pleasure of introducing our team of extraordinary Canadians who will serve as Ministers in your new government," the post begins. "As a Canadian, you expect to see your values and priorities reflected in your government and we have listened closely. Our strong, diverse, and experienced team will serve all Canadians, and for the first time in our country's history there will be an equal number of women and men around the Cabinet table."

"I am writing to you, today, to reaffirm my commitment to spend the next four years working hard to deliver on those promises," the status continues."It is time for leadership that never seeks to divide Canadians, but takes every single opportunity to bring us together, including in Parliament."

Within just one hour of going live, more than 40,000 people had liked the status (the full text of whichcan be viewed here.)