Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday, saying he intends to step down from the top job and as the leader of Canada\u2019s ruling Liberal Party once a new party leader is chosen. <\/p>\n
\u201cI intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its new leader,\u201d the 53-year-old leader told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday. <\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s parliament will be suspended until March 24 while a new Liberal Party leader is chosen, he also said. <\/p>\n
Trudeau added that he has \u201cone regret\u201d \u2013 failing to reform Canada\u2019s election process, ahead of a general election expected this fall. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I have one regret, particularly as we approach this election \u2014 well, probably many regrets that I will think of,\u201d the outgoing leader said. \u201cBut I do wish we\u2019d been able to change the way we elect our governments in this country so that people could simply choose a second choice, or a third choice on the same ballot.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party for 11 years and prime minister for nine, was facing a mounting set of crises, from Donald Trump\u2019s tariff threats to the resignation of key allies and disastrous opinion polls. His resignation could <\/strong>be seen as choosing to jump before he is pushed, ahead of a general election to be held later this year that he is widely expected to lose. <\/p>\n Trudeau took the Liberals to power in 2015, promising \u201csunny ways\u201d for Canada. He championed progressive issues like combating climate change and addressing historic abuses against Indigenous peoples, but the latter years of his premiership have been marked by rising economic discontent. <\/p>\n A viral confrontation with a steel worker, who criticized Trudeau for not addressing the high cost of living, captured the growing discontent among Canadians. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not really doing anything for us, Justin,\u201d the worker remarked, highlighting a sentiment that resonated widely. <\/p>\n Trudeau\u2019s government was also rocked last year by the surprise resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, just hours before she was due to deliver her annual fiscal update. <\/p>\n In a blistering letter of resignation, she criticized Trudeau\u2019s \u201cpolitical gimmicks,\u201d likely referring to a two-month sales tax holiday and 250 Canadian dollar ($175) rebates for most workers. <\/p>\n Freeland said Canada could \u201cill afford\u201d these policies, seen as a pre-election handout to claw back some voters, and coming as the country faces the serious prospect of huge tariffs which could be levied by the incoming Trump administration. <\/p>\n US President-elect Donald Trump, set to return to the White House on January 20, has said he will sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all products coming into the US from Canada. Trump has also taken to belittling Trudeau and the country of Canada on social media, referring to the prime minister as the \u201cgovernor\u201d of the \u201cGreat State of Canada.\u201d <\/p>\n The Liberal Party national executive, which controls leadership issues, is scheduled to meet this week, likely after the caucus. Suspending parliament is designed to give the party time to choose a new leader. <\/p>\n Possible replacements include the former governor of both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada Mark Carney, foreign minister M\u00e9lanie Joly, and former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland. <\/p>\n The hope is that a new party leader could bring the Liberals out of their funk, before a general election set to be held on or before October 20. Current polls show Trudeau\u2019s Liberal Party behind the opposition Conservative Party, led by the firebrand Pierre Poilievre. <\/p>\n \u201cThis country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I\u2019m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election,\u201d said Trudeau on Monday. <\/p>\n Trudeau was elected three times, most recently in 2021, when he remained in power but lost his governing majority. Since then, Poilievre\u2019s Conservative Party has built a lead over the Liberal Party of more than 20% in national polling averages. <\/p>\n Trudeau told reporters on Monday that Poilievre\u2019s conservative vision \u201cis not the right one for Canadians.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cStopping the fight against climate change doesn\u2019t make sense. Backing off on the values and strength and diversity that Canada has always, always, worked to pull itself together on is not the right path for the country. Attacking journalists, the CBC institutions, that\u2019s not what Canadians need in this moment. We need an ambitious, optimistic view of the future \u2013 and Pierre Poilievre is not offering that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Reacting to Trudeau\u2019s resignation Monday, President-elect Trump doubled down on the idea that Canada and the US should merge. <\/p>\n \u201cMany people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State. The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned,\u201d he said on Truth Social. <\/p>\n \u201cIf Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!\u201d he added. <\/p>\n Poilievre, who has already found currency with the MAGA base, bolstering his position as a potential candidate for this year\u2019s general election amid an incoming Trump administration, also seized on Trudeau\u2019s resignation to make an offer to Canadian voters. <\/p>\n \u201cCanadians can take back control of their lives and their country,\u201d Poilievre said in a video post on X. \u201cTake back control of our border. Take back control of immigration. Take back control of spending, deficits and inflation. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll cap spending, axe taxes, reward work, build homes, uphold family, stop crime, secure borders, rearm our forces, restore our freedom and put Canada first,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n And Freeland, a possible contender to replace Trudeau, who said in December that she and Trudeau had \u201cfound ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,\u201d thanked him for his service on Monday. <\/p>\n \u201cI thank Justin Trudeau for his years of service to Canada and Canadians. I wish him and his family the very best,\u201d she wrote on X. <\/p>\n Trudeau said at Monday\u2019s press conference that he had hoped Freeland would continue as his deputy, \u201cbut she chose otherwise,\u201d declining to provide more detail on their conversations. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday, saying he intends to step down from the top job and as the leader of Canada\u2019s ruling Liberal Party once a new party leader is chosen. \u201cI intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its new leader,\u201d the 53-year-old leader […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} What comes next?<\/h2>\n
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