Newsman: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he intends to resign as Liberal Party leader and prime minister once a new party leader is determined. Trudeau also announced that Canada’s Parliament would shut down until March 24, and that he has asked the Liberal party to begin the search for a new leader. Trudeau, 53, the leader of the Liberal Party for 11 years and began serving as the 23rd prime minister of Canada in 2015.
Justin Trudeau’s departure comes amid mounting pressure for him to step aside before an upcoming election that his Liberal party is forecasted to lose badly. The leader also has a complicated, oft-adversarial relationship with U.S. president elect Donald Trump, who is set to be sworn on 20th January.
Donald Trump has proposed new tariffs on imports from Canada — the United States’ third largest supplier of agricultural products, according to the Department of Agriculture — as well as China and Mexico.
Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida, last month to meet with the president-elect.
Prime Minister Trudeau’s move also comes before an emergency meeting of Liberal legislators that was planned for Wednesday.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp said more than 50 Liberal members of parliament from Ontario − the most populous of the 10 provinces and the party’s main stronghold − held a call Dec. 21 and agreed Trudeau had to step down.
Trudeau has attempted damage control, even jetting out to West Palm Beach, Florida in late-November for a meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate days after the president-elect vowed to enact a 25% tariff on all products coming into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico.
Trudeau has often been at odds with Trump, who has mocked Trudeau as “governor” of Canada while repeatedly joking that the nation should become the 51st U.S. state.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa.
“Every morning I’ve woken up as prime minister, I’ve been inspired by the resilience, generosity and the determination of Canadians,” Trudeau said in a news conference. “It is the driving force of every single day I have the privilege of serving this office.”
“I’m a fighter. Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians. I care deeply about this country, and I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians,” the prime minister said.
“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.
Trudeau said at the news conference that parliament would be suspended until March 24.
Trudeau’s leaves the Liberal Party before the next federal election, that must be held on or before the Oct. 20.
The announcement of resignation of Prime Minister Trudea comes a month after Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned from Trudeau’s Cabinet, a sign of apparent turmoil in his government.
In her letter last month, Freeland said Trudeau told her he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister and offered her another position in the Cabinet.
In a letter to the prime minister announcing her resignation, Freeland cited her differences with Trudeau over how to deal with President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat.
“Our country today faces a grave challenge,” Freeland wrote in the letter, which she shared on social media. “The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 percent tariffs.”
“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she continued, with actions that included the need for Canada to push back and resist “costly political gimmicks” and “building a true Team Canada response.”
