Canada’s embattled PM Justin Trudeau announces he will step down

Justin Trudeau said Monday he will resign as leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party, in an announcement that will kick off the race to replace him as prime minister.

“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust national competitive process,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “Last night I asked the president of the Liberal Party to start that process.”

The embattled prime minister’s departure comes after growing calls for his resignation within his own party, with the Liberals trailing the opposition Conservative Party in opinion polls and internal battles over his handling of President-elect Donald Trump.

That pressure culminated in the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland last month. Freeland, who was also finance minister, unexpectedly resigned citing concerns about the Trudeau administration’s relatively cooperative approach to the incoming Trump administration’s plan to increase import tariffs on Canadian goods by 25%.

“Over the past few weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” Freeland said in her resignation letter, adding that the country “cannot afford” Trump’s tariff threats.

He added that leaving the Cabinet was the only “honest and viable path.”

Trudeau, who came to power in late 2015 and has governed for nine years, has largely remained out of public view since then.

During his remarks, Trudeau said he was elected to fight for the middle class, which is what his administration has done.

“Over the last few years, we lowered your taxes, increased benefits for families, made sure the economy was focused on working for everyone, not just a few,” he said.

In November, Trump said that if re-elected, he would sign an executive order that would impose tariffs on all products coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada.

“On January 20, as one of my first Executive Orders, I will sign all the necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on ALL products entering the United States and its ridiculous Open Borders,” he said in a post . on Truth Social at the end of November.

Days later, Trudeau visited the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and later wrote in a post on X: “Thank you for dinner last night, President Trump. “I look forward to the work we can do together again.”

Trump has since attacked Trudeau and Canada, suggesting making the country the 51st state of the United States and referring to the prime minister as the “governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”

Still, Trudeau’s popularity was waning even before his recent handling of the prospect of new U.S. tariffs. Many young and working-class Canadians blame the prime minister for the country’s high inflation rate and prolonged political chaos.

The Liberals hold 153 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons. The elections will be held at the end of October.

The party’s popularity has declined rapidly in the face of the opposition over the past year. The latest poll released Friday by Canadian research firm Angus Reid found voter support for the Liberals had sunk to a record low of 16%.

This is a development history. Please check back for updates.



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