Canada PM Justin Trudeau announces resignation
The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he will be retiring as leader of the coalition Liberals after nine years but would continue as leader until the party selects a replacement.
Trudeau, forced to quit by Liberal lawmakers as opinion polls suggest the party will be overthrown next time, declared at a news conference that parliament would be held until March 24. That leaves Trudeau in charge until 20 January when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump assumes office. Trump has threatened to hike tariffs that would bankrupt Canada.
"I will resign as party leader as prime minister when the party chooses a new leader in a vigorous, national competition," Trudeau said. "This country needs a genuine candidate at the next election and I realize now that if I'm having to do this in the back of the house, I am no good candidate at that election."
Trudeau (53) came to power in November 2015, was reelected twice, and is one of Canada’s longest-serving prime ministers.
But he began to lose ground two years ago as people became incensed by high prices and housing shortages, and he never made it back.
Polls indicate the Liberals are heading for a humiliating defeat to the mainstream conservatives in an election to be called by late October, no matter who is leader.
Parliament was slated to resume Jan. 27 and the opposition parties had promised to overthrow the government as soon as possible, probably by the end of March. But if parliament isn’t back before March 24, then the soonest they might move a non-confidence motion is sometime in May.
Trudeau had up until recently able to resist Liberal lawmakers who balked at polling dips and the elimination of safe seats in two special elections last year.
But his demands for an exit have rocketed since last month, when he attempted to demotion Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, one of his cabinet colleagues, after she resisted his requests for more spending.
Freeland called it quits and instead wrote a letter accusing Trudeau of "political trickery" over what was in the country’s best interests.
Conservatives are led by Pierre Poilievre, a career politician who became a star in early 2022 when he stood with truckers who stormed the heart of Ottawa to rally against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
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