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As the federal Liberals heard a pitch at their annual convention floating the idea that young, educated Canadians wanting to leave the country should be taxed $500,000, former prime minister Justin Trudeau was dancing with his girlfriend Katy Perry to Justin Bieber at the Coachella music festival.

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Perry shared updates from the annual gathering in the Southern California desert, including snaps with Trudeau, who she went Instagram official with in December.

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In one video from a carousel posted to her Instagram, Perry screamed with excitement as Bieber launched into his 2010 smash, Baby. Trudeau could be seen smiling behind the pop star while wearing a backward baseball cap.

In another clip, the couple were bathed in red lighting, smiling for the camera as they canoodled during Bieber’s rendition of Speed Demon from last year’s Swag II.

Elsewhere, Perry poked fun at Bieber for pulling up YouTube to play his music videos and help him decide what tracks to perform during his 30-song setlist.

“Thank God he has (YouTube) premium,” Perry quipped. “I don’t want to see no ads.”

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Couple ate noodles while canoodling

Perry’s slideshow, which she captioned “heat checkin’ these chickens” (a lyric from Bieber’s Speed Demon), also included photos of her and the former drama teacher eating noodles together and holding hands as they walked throughout the concert grounds.

In one video, the Firework singer gave her 200 million followers a glimpse of what she was bringing with her to the festival. “OK, what’s in my bag for Coachella — very important things to survive Coachella,” she narrated. “My Balenciaga shades, my Ziacam, my vitamins, my hand sanitizer, my OneSkin lip balm, my deodorant ’cause it’s gonna stink, trail mix for energy and sustenance because we actually are going to see bands, we need a little bit of jewelry to decorate ourselves at night, some cash if we need to, like, grease anyone, my bag, and my mask.”

The 41-year-old Grammy nominee wore black, combat-style boots, shorts and a white T-shirt that read, “Pls do not give me a rip off your vape no matter what I say,” while Trudeau embraced his mid-’90s man-child era with a plain white tee, friendship bracelets, jeans, sneakers and backward Montreal Alouettes cap.

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On Instagram, Perry’s fans cheered on the couple, with one supporter writing, “Hanging out with two great Canadian boys for the night! Lucky gal!”

“JT looks so happy, good for him!” a second person added, while a third wrote, “From private high school teacher, to prime minister, into Katy Perry’s man … JT’s life needs to be studied.”

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‘Much happier person now’

Perry and Trudeau were first linked last summer following her split from Orlando Bloom, with whom she shares a five-year-old daughter.

Following his split from his wife, Sophie Gregoire, in 2023 after 18 years of marriage, a source told People last October that Trudeau “is a much happier person now.

“Justin has had a lot of upheavals in the past couple of years, both in his professional-political status and at home with the split from Sophie,” an insider told the outlet. “Stresses are greatly diminished. And he is intrigued with Katy. They have fun together, laugh a lot, talk about everything … His life is much improved, and his relationship with Katy has had a lot to do with it.”

Their latest outing came after Trudeau’s son Xavier, who is a budding musician, spoke about his dad’s relationship during an appearance on the Can’t Be Censored podcast.

“When I’m really happy with a song (I) send it (to her),” Xavier, 18, said. “She’s always happy to give me advice or tell me what I should change. She’s super nice. She’s super down to earth. She’s great. I think that my dad’s happy, so that’s important.”

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Video message from Trudeau shared at Liberal convention

Before Trudeau partied at Coachella, he appeared via video at the Liberal party convention in Montreal.

“Canada needs a strong and dynamic Liberal party … the Liberal party has always been ambitious for Canada and Canadians,” Trudeau said. “I am really excited to see what you can all accomplish under Mark’s leadership this weekend and for the years to come, but remember: The Canada we’ve built together didn’t happen by accident and won’t continue without effort. It takes hope and hard work, but we’re Liberals, we got this.”

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During the “Building a Stronger, More Competitive Canadian Economy” panel, Patrick Pichette, a guest speaker at the convention, floated an idea to levy a tax on educated Canadians wanting to leave the country to pursue opportunities south of the border.

“In Canada, the minute you have your degree, if it’s a professional degree, there’s something in Canada … it’s called the TN program. So, Microsoft, I finished from University of Waterloo with my computer degree, Microsoft phones me, offers me a job, 300 grand a year, right? All I have to do is show up at the border, apply for a TN visa, right? And I get this three-year (visa), like, no questions asked, it costs 30 bucks,” Pichette, who lives in Europe, told the crowd.

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“You want to save yourself $5 billion, $10 billion. Shut the TN program. Keep them in Canada or make them pay their half a million,” he suggested. “You want to go to the U.S? Give me back my money. Like my dad, my mom — you all work every day to offer them their education. You can’t let five billion or ten billion a year of your hard-earned cash (go) so that Microsoft can get smarter.”

With a a trio of federal byelections set for Monday, Prime Minister Carney, who resuscitated the Liberals from certain political death last year when he took over from Trudeau, took to the stage on Saturday with a message of unity amid increasing unemployment numbers and no trade deal in sight with the U.S.

“We are meeting in the middle of a transformation that will define this country for generations and Canadians sense it,” he said.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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