Under growing pressure from his own party, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced he will step down and end his nine-year stretch as leader.
Trudeau said he would stay on in office until his Liberal Party can choose a new leader, and that parliament would be prorogued – or suspended – until 24 March.
“This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election,” he said during a press conference Monday.
Trudeau’s personal unpopularity with Canadians had become an increasing drag on his party’s fortunes in advance of federal elections later this year.
“Last night, over dinner, I told my kids about the decision that I’m sharing with you today,” he told the news conference in Ottawa.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process,” he said.
The president of the Liberal Party, Sachit Mehra, said a meeting of the party’s board of directors would be held this week to begin the process of selecting a new party leader.
In a statement, he added: “Liberals across the country are immensely grateful to Justin Trudeau for more than a decade of leadership to our Party and the country.”
“As Prime Minister, his vision delivered transformational progress for Canadians, including with the Canada Child Benefit and $10-a-day child care, Canada’s first-ever national climate plan, support that saved businesses and helped Canadians through a once in a generation global pandemic, and the establishment of dental care and universal pharmacare,” Mr Mehra said.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said “nothing has changed” following Trudeau’s resignation.
“Every Liberal MP and Leadership contender supported EVERYTHING Trudeau did for 9 years, and now they want to trick voters by swapping in another Liberal face to keep ripping off Canadians for another 4 years, just like Justin,” Poilievre wrote on X.
Justin Trudeau resignation live updates
Trudeau, 53, had faced growing calls to quit from inside his Liberal Party, which ramped up in December when deputy prime minister and long-time ally Chrystia Freeland abruptly resigned, citing Trudeau’s perceived failure to not take US President-elect Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs on Canadian goods seriously.
In a public resignation letter, she accused Trudeau of not doing enough to address the “grave challenge” posed by Trump’s proposals.
Trump has promised to impose a tax of 25% on imported Canadian goods – which economists have warned would significantly hurt Canada’s economy – unless the country takes steps to increase security on its shared border.
Canada has since announced that it will implement sweeping new security measures along the country’s US border.
Trudeau said Monday that he had hoped Freeland would have continued in her post, “but she chose otherwise.”
Under Trudeau, the Liberal Party has governed as a minority party with the support of several smaller parties, but the prime minister has struggled to keep the coalition together while trying to fight high inflation and housing prices.
Following Freeland’s resignation, Trudeau lost the support of parties that had previously helped keep the Liberals in power – the Quebec nationalist party, Bloc Quebecois, and the left-leaning New Democrats.
The largest opposition party, the Conservatives, have maintained a significant two-digit lead over the Liberals in polls for months – suggesting that if a general election were held today, the Liberals could be in for a significant defeat.
The Liberals have also lost a series of special elections in recent months, including in former party strongholds in Toronto and Montreal, underscoring the party’s political troubles.
Trudeau announced his intention to quit before his party’s national caucus meets on Wednesday.
Liberals will now choose a new leader to take the party into the next election, which must be held on or before 20 October, although Trudeau’s resignation is likely to prompt calls for an earlier vote.
End of the Trudeau era
Trudeau is the son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who dominated the country’s politics in the 1970s and ’80s.
The younger Trudeau became prime minister after the Liberal Party won a sweeping majority in 2015 amid a promise to usher in a new, progressive era of “Sunny Ways”.
His record includes a commitment to gender equality in his cabinet, which continues to be 50% women; progress on reconciliation with Indigenous people in Canada; bringing in a national carbon tax; implementing a tax-free child benefit for families; and legalising recreational cannabis.
But in recent years, clouds also began to hang over Trudeau’s government, which weathered a series of often self-inflicted scandals, including a controversy over a deal with a Canadian firm facing corruption charges and photos that emerged of the prime minister wearing brownface makeup.
In 2019 the Liberals lost their majority and have governed as a minority party ever since. A snap federal election called by Trudeau in September 2021 handed the Liberals another minority government, as voters expressed frustration at going to the polls during the pandemic.
Vaccine mandates and other restrictions were also met with fierce backlash by some Canadians, leading to the Freedom Convoy protests in early 2022. Trudeau eventually used unprecedented emergency powers to remove the protesters.
As Canada began to emerge from the pandemic, housing and food prices skyrocketed, and his government pulled back on ambitious immigration targets as public services began to show strain.
By late 2024, Trudeau’s approval rating was at its lowest – just 22% of Canadians saying they thought he was doing a good job, according to one polling tracker.
BBC
