In an exclusive column for the Toronto Star, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is writing a special “Message for Canadians” for the Christmas holidays that outlines his thoughts about family, generosity and sacrifices at this time of the year and his plans for 2016.

The column will appear on Christmas Day on Toronto Star Touch, our popular new tablet app available on Apple iPads and Android tablet devices. The app was downloaded more than 100,000 times by readers in its first six weeks and that number continues to grow daily.

The Prime Minister’s message will also be published on Boxing Day in our print edition and on thestar.com, our main news website. The Star does not publish a print edition on Christmas Day.

The exclusive message is part of a special Christmas Day package of news and features that will be published on Toronto Star Touch, including a comprehensive series of stories and profiles on the world junior hockey tournament that opens Saturday in Helsinki, Finland.

In his message, Trudeau shares his thoughts about why he loves this time of year, about sharing the holidays with his wife and three children.

He speaks of the sacrifices by members of the Canadian Armed Forces to help make the world a safer place, of the generosity of spirit and volunteerism that exists across this country and that can be seen in the thousands of offers to sponsor Syrian refugee families.

He also talks about his government’s priorities for 2016, including introducing tax cuts for the middle class and a new Canada Child Benefit for families.

In addition, our special preview of the World Junior Hockey Championship starts on Christmas Day with an in-depth look on Toronto Star Touch at Team Canada and the other squads in the 10-team tournament being held in Helsinki.

Team Canada opens the tournament on Boxing Day against a strong U.S. squad, which is expected to be one of the main contenders with Canada for the gold medal. The Canada-U.S. game starts at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The tournament starts Saturday and ends with the championship game on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

All of this and more on Christmas Day, exclusively on the Toronto Star Touch tablet app, and on Boxing Day in the Saturday Star and on thestar.com website.

We hope you enjoy it.

We also wish all our readers a happy holiday season.

John Cruickshank

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Publisher, Toronto Star

President, Star Media Group

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