Trudeau was set to face his disgruntled team at a special caucus meeting on Wednesday
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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday morning that he will step down as Liberal leader and prime minister, launching a Liberal leadership race that will determine his successor, and he has put Canada’s Parliament on pause while the party process unfolds.
Trudeau, who had been facing an internal party revolt over his leadership, said Governor General Mary Simon has granted his request to prorogue Parliament until March 24, which will put the House of Commons on hold while the Liberals select a new leader to steer the party into the next federal election.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide competitive process,” said Trudeau.
“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.”
Trudeau said he has already asked Liberal Party president Sachit Mehra to begin the process of replacing him as leader and said he is “excited to see the process unfold in the months ahead.”
Rumoured leadership contender Mark Carney and Freeland reacted to the news by thanking Trudeau for his years of service and by wishing the best for his future endeavours.
Trudeau has faced calls to resign from multiple quarters in recent weeks with his caucus in upheaval after the resignation from cabinet of former finance minister Chrystia Freeland on Dec. 16, including calls from almost every Liberal regional caucus for him to step down. Trudeau said he made his decision after spending two weeks over the holidays reflecting on his future.
“As you all know, I am a fighter and I am not someone who backs away from a fight, particularly when a fight is as important as this one is,” he said. “But I have always been driven by my love for Canada, by my desire to serve Canadians, and by what is in the best interest of Canadians, and Canadians deserve a real choice in the next election.”
Trudeau addressed reporters from his residence at Rideau Cottage, making it the first time he answered questions from reporters since Freeland resigned three weeks ago on the very morning she was scheduled to deliver the fall economic update, reportedly after the prime minister told her he would be shuffling her out of her portfolio and replacing her with Carney.
Trudeau refused to disclose more details surrounding Freeland’s sudden departure from his cabinet on Monday.
“Chrystia has been by my side for close to 10 years now. She has been an incredible political partner through just about everything we have done as a government and as a party over the past decade,” he said. “I had really hoped that she would agree to continue as my deputy prime minister and take on one of the most important files that not just this government but this country is facing, but she chose otherwise.”
“In regards to what actually happened, I am not someone who is in the habit of sharing private conversations.”
Sources confirm Liberal MPs have received an invite to attend an “informational webinar” on Zoom Monday afternoon regarding the Liberal Party of Canada constitution and “how it relates to caucus.” One MP said they understood it as a meeting to discuss next steps for a Liberal leadership race.
Trudeau was set to face his disgruntled team at a special meeting of the national Liberal caucus on Wednesday. It was scheduled to last nearly all day and includes times for regional caucuses to meet, National Post reported on Friday.
It hasn’t just been internal pressure on the prime minister. Along with many of his own MPs calling for him to resign, the Liberals have seen increasingly dire national poll numbers that suggest the party’s official status could be under threat.
At the end of December, the Angus Reid Institute released a poll showing the Liberals plummeting to 16-per-cent support and the Conservatives at 45 per cent. Only 16 per cent of respondents also said they wanted Trudeau to cling to power, while 46 per cent wanted the prime minister to resign immediately. Thirty-eight per cent of respondents wanted an immediate federal election in February.
Trudeau’s resignation will spark a Liberal leadership race to take his place as prime minister and lead the party into the 2025 federal election, which is scheduled to happen in October. Because the Liberals only command a minority Parliament, the three opposition parties could bring the government down when Parliament resumes and trigger an election.
That was their intention when the House of Commons was set to return on Jan. 27. However, with the House now prorogued until late March, plans to bring down the government are up in the air. That means there will be no confidence votes until then, and a House of Commons committee set to study a motion of non-confidence in the government is also suspended.
Trudeau said that after a rowdy fall session, removing the “contention” around his own leadership will be “an opportunity to bring the temperature down.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that Trudeau’s departure would change nothing.
“Every Liberal MP in power today and every potential Liberal leadership contender fighting for the top job helped Justin Trudeau break the country over the past nine years,” he said in a video shared on X Monday morning.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/justin-trudeau-resignation-prime-minister
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