New Delhi: Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister of Canada Monday, after facing months of discontent both from the public and his own party.
“I intend to resign as party leader, [and] as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process,” said Trudeau while speaking outside Rideau Cottage in Ottawa.
He added: “This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I am having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.”
Trudeau also announced that the Parliament of Canada would be prorogued till 24 March, while the Liberal Party chooses its next leader, after the Governor General granted his request. A proroguing of the Canadian Parliament does not mean a dissolution of the House of Commons, but rather a termination of the parliamentary session until the next Speech from the Throne, which will announce the government’s direction and goals.
The Canadian prime minister has been falling in the polls, with some opinion polls indicating a 20 percent gap with the Conservative Party led by Pierre Poilievre. The falling poll numbers, calls for resignation from his own party and a cost of living crisis in a stuttering economy have all engulfed Trudeau in the last few months.
Trudeau, who led the Liberal Party for almost 12 years, won three federal elections in 2015, 2019 and 2021. He has led a minority government since 2021 after the Liberals emerged as the largest party in the House of Commons, with 160 seats out of 338.
The prime minister—who had until now maintained that he would lead the Liberal Party into the elections expected sometime later this year—has faced a number of setbacks in the past few weeks, including the abrupt resignation of Chrystia Freeland on 16 December 2024.
Freeland, the former deputy prime minister and finance minister, resigned on the day she was to table the fall economic statement. The former deputy prime minister, considered to be the most powerful minister in Trudeau’s cabinet, also published her resignation letter, which brought out the divisions within the cabinet to the public.
Since Freeland’s resignation, Trudeau has faced calls to resign from at least two dozen individual MPs from his party, along with multiple regional caucasus—the Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Ontario.
Trudeau’s government has also been responsible for the nosediving ties with India, especially after alleging links between officials of the Indian government with the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar—designated a terrorist by India—was gunned down outside a gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia in June 2023.
Trudeau’s challenging last weeks
On 16 December 2024, Trudeau faced his biggest setback as leader of the Liberal Party—the resignation of Chrystia Freeland. Differences arose between the two on how to deal with the coming presidency of Donald Trump in the US.
Freeland characterised several plans announced by Trudeau—including a tax holiday for two months starting in December 2024, as well as rebate cheques of C$250 to every Canadian citizen earning below C$ 1,05,000—as “political gimmicks.”
Freeland argued that it was necessary to keep the “fiscal powder dry” as the looming Trump presidency and his proposed tariff of 25 percent on all imports from Canada would negatively impact the Canadian economy. Trudeau’s policies added to the ballooning deficit, which crossed over C$ 40 billion.
“Chrystia [Freeland] has been by my side for almost 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. I had really hoped that she would continue as my deputy prime minister and take on one of the most important files that this country is facing, but she chose otherwise,” said Trudeau Monday, on Freeland’s resignation.
A former journalist with roots in Ukraine, Freeland was Canada’s point person during the renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the first Trump presidency. She was one of Trudeau’s top recruits to rebuild the Liberal Party after its historic loss during the 2011 federal election.
Trudeau’s economic record has had a mixed success, especially with population growth driven by his immigration policies, which has led to a cost-of-living crisis in Canada. In 2023, Canada’s population grew by its largest since 1957, due to his open immigration policies.
Throughout 2024, the Canadian government had to walk back on a number of its immigration promises, including reducing the planned number of permanent residents over the next three years due to the housing crisis.
Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), which has helped the Liberals maintain a minority government, had in September walked out of the agreement to maintain the government and in December promised to call for a motion of no-confidence following Freeland’s resignation.
The House of Commons was scheduled to convene on 27 January, 2025. However, with the prorogation, the Liberals have time till 24 March to work out a new deal to maintain their governing role. Singh is expected to respond to Trudeau’s resignation later in the day.