Justin Trudeau Announces Resignation as Canadian Prime Minister Ahead of Donald Trump’s Inauguration

Justin Trudeau has dramatically announced his resignation as leader of Canada, ending nearly a decade in power.

In a speech delivered outside Rideau Cottage on Monday morning, he said that he will wait to vacate his position until a successor has been selected.

Trudeau, 53, has faced growing calls to resign before Canada’s 2025 election — which has not yet been scheduled — as polling suggests that the Liberals will badly lose to the Conservatives.

He was elected to lead the struggling center-left party in 2013 and two years later, he became the prime minister when he helped the Liberals return to power.

Trudeau’s political future has been the subject of conversation for some time over public dissatisfaction caused by issues like inflation and a housing shortage, Reuters reports, but Trump’s election in November had a ripple effect in Canada that further complicated the prime minister’s standing with his party.

One of Trudeau’s most loyal Cabinet members, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, resigned in December with a warning to the public: that Trudeau was not prepared to save the country from economic turmoil if Trump imposes high tariffs on Canada when he becomes president.

“Our country is facing a grave challenge,” Freeland said in her resignation letter. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”

Freeland’s dramatic departure and criticism of Trudeau’s spending sent shockwaves through Parliament, leading Liberal lawmakers to push for the prime minister’s resignation in hopes that they could build a stronger government to counter Trump’s policies.

Trudeau, who did not always see eye to eye with the White House during Trump’s first presidency, met with the U.S. president-elect at Mar-a-Lago in November to discuss the Republican’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods.

Since their meeting, Trump has repeatedly joked that Canada could be absorbed by the U.S. as a 51st state, mocking Trudeau’s strength by calling him the “governor” of “the Great State of Canada.”

Trudeau has been a member of Parliament since 2008 and served as prime minister for three terms alongside three U.S. presidents. No Canadian prime minister has earned a fourth consecutive term in more than a century.

Trudeau was born into a prominent political family. His father, Pierre Trudeau, was serving as the Canadian prime minister when he was born.

via: People

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