Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigns

Under mounting pressure from his own party, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he will resign and end his nine-year term as leader.

Trudeau said he would remain in office until his Liberal Party can elect a new leader, and that parliament would be prorogued – or suspended – until March 24.

“This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I have to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best choice in those elections,” he said during a press conference on Monday.

Trudeau’s personal unpopularity among Canadians had become a growing drag on his party’s fortunes ahead of this year’s federal election.

“Last night at dinner I told my children about the decision that I share with you today,” he said at 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 national competitive process,” he said.

Liberal Party president 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 leader.

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In a statement, he added: “Liberals across the country are immensely grateful to Justin Trudeau for more than a decade of leadership of our Party and the country.”

“As Prime Minister, his vision delivered transformative progress for Canadians,” he said, citing programs his government has implemented, such as the Canada Child Benefit and the establishment of dental care and pharmaceutical coverage for some medications.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said “nothing has changed” following Trudeau’s resignation.

“All the Liberal MPs and leadership contenders supported EVERYTHING Trudeau did for 9 years, and now they want to deceive voters by changing another Liberal face to continue defrauding Canadians for another 4 years, just like Justin,” Poilievre wrote in x.

Trudeau, 53, had faced growing calls for him to resign from within his Liberal Party, which increased in December when deputy prime minister and longtime ally Chrystia Freeland abruptly resigned.

In a public letter of resignation, Freeland cited US President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canadian productsand accused Trudeau of not doing enough to address the “serious challenge” posed by Trump’s proposals.

Trump has promised to impose a 25% tax on imported Canadian goods, which economists have warned would significantly damage Canada’s economy unless the country takes steps to increase security on their shared border.

Trudeau said Monday he hoped Freeland would have continued as deputy prime minister, “but she decided otherwise.”

Canada has since announced that it will implement radical new security measures along the country’s US border in response to the threat.

In an online post, Trump claimed that pressure over tariffs led to Trudeau’s resignation and repeated his jibe that Canada should become “the 51st state.”

“If Canada merged with the United States, there would be no tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be COMPLETELY SAFE from the threat of Russian and Chinese ships constantly surrounding them,” he wrote.

Since 2019, the Liberal Party has governed as a minority party.

Following Freeland’s resignation, Trudeau lost the support of the parties that had previously helped keep the Liberals in power: the left-leaning New Democrats, who had a support agreement with the Liberals, and the Quebec nationalist party, Bloc Quebecois.

The largest opposition party, the Conservatives, has maintained a significant double-digit lead over the Liberals in the polls for months, suggesting that if a general election were held today, the Liberals could suffer a significant defeat.

The Liberals will now elect a new leader to lead the party into the next election, which must be held on or before October 20.

A senior government official told the BBC that the race is an open contest and that the Prime Minister’s Office will stay completely out of the process, leaving Liberal Party members to decide its future.

Speaking to reporters, Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet suggested that early elections be called once the Liberals elect their new leader.

Trudeau is the son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who dominated the country’s politics in the 1970s and 1980s.

The younger Trudeau became prime minister after the Liberal Party won a large majority in 2015, amid promises to usher in a new progressive “Sunny Ways” era.

Her record includes a commitment to gender equality in her cabinet, which remains 50% women; progress in reconciliation with indigenous peoples in Canada; introduce a national carbon tax; implement a tax-free child benefit for families; and legalize recreational cannabis.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak praised Trudeau’s record on Indigenous issues following his resignation, saying in a statement that he “has taken significant steps to address issues that matter to First Nations.”

“While much remains to be done, these actions have laid a foundation on which future governments can build.”

Clouds began to gather over Trudeau’s government in recent years, which weathered a series of often self-inflicted scandals, including a controversy over a deal with a Canadian company facing corruption charges and photos emerging of the prime minister in brown makeup. .

Vaccine mandates and other restrictions also met with fierce backlash from some Canadians, leading to the Freedom Convoy truck protests in early 2022. Trudeau ultimately used unprecedented emergency powers to expel protesters.

As Canada began to emerge from the pandemic, housing and food prices soared, and its government rolled back its ambitious immigration targets as public services began to show strain.

At the end of 2024, Trudeau’s approval rating was at an all-time low: only 22% of Canadians said they thought he was doing a good job. according to a survey tracker.

In Ottawa, a small group of protesters danced in front of Parliament Hill to celebrate his resignation.

One passerby, however, said he thinks things were fine under Trudeau.

“I’m a carpenter,” Hames Gamarra, from British Columbia, told the BBC. “I take care of my own business, I get my salary, I pay the bills. Everything has been going well.”

Another Canadian, Marise Cassivi, said it feels like the end of an era. When asked if he felt any hint of sadness, he replied, “No.”

“It’s the right thing to do.”