Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that he would resign in the coming months, bowing to an angry electorate at a time of uncertain economic prospects and political infighting.
The announcement, coming in the middle of a deadlocked Parliament, left Canada in a changing political situation, just as the new Trump administration has pledged to impose punitive tariffs on Canadian imports.
“It’s time to reset,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters outside his residence on a freezing morning in Ottawa, the capital. Mr. Trudeau said he had suspended Parliament until March 24 and would remain Liberal Party leader and prime minister until his replacement is chosen in a national election.
“I sincerely believe that ending conflicts around my own leadership is an opportunity to lower the temperature,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau, 53, who rose to power nearly a decade ago and quickly became a progressive icon, is the latest Western leader to be swept aside by an anti-incumbency climate, a backlash against immigration and anger against power. lingering effects of rising inflation during the coronavirus pandemic. Although inflation in Canada has fallen below 2 percent, unemployment remains high, above 6 percent.
The general election must take place by October, a timeline Mr. Trudeau referenced on Monday.
“It has become clear to me, with the internal struggles, that I cannot be the one to carry liberal standards in the next election,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau has been facing increasing pressure from the ranks of his party for weeks.
In December, Mr. Trudeau’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, abruptly resigned, issuing a scathing rebuke of his leadership and management of the country. Ms. Freeland, who had been a close ally of the prime minister, accused Mr. Trudeau of engaging in “expensive political gambits” and being ill-prepared to meet the challenge posed by President-elect Donald J. Trump.
His resignation sparked a growing number of voices among Liberal lawmakers calling on him to step aside for the good of the party and let someone else lead the party in the general election.
Mr. Trudeau has also come under pressure from a resurgent Conservative Party, which in recent polls has secured a double-digit lead over the Liberal Party. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre released a video ” on social media Monday, promoting an alternative vision of the government: “remove the tax”, in reference to Trudeau’s unpopular carbon tax, “build houses”, “fix the budget” and “stop the crime “.
The upheaval comes as Canada debates how best to respond to Mr. Trump’s promise to impose tariffs that would undermine a trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico. (Mr. Trump has also threatened tariffs on Mexico and says he wants both countries to address the flow of drugs and undocumented migrants into the United States.)
Tariffs would be potentially disastrous for the Canadian economy, which relies heavily on exports, particularly oil and automobiles. The United States and Canada are each other’s largest trading partners.
Mr. Trudeau visited Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, in late November, and his government was in talks to address the president-elect’s concerns about border security in the hope that he would reconsider his decision. tariff threat.
The talks do not appear to have been fruitful. In early December, Mr. Trump mocked Mr. Trudeau in a social media post, describing the Canadian prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the great state of Canada.”
On Monday, Mr. Trump responded to Mr. Trudeau’s resignation by again suggesting that Canada should become the “51st state” of the United States, saying on social media that if Canada merged with the United States, the Taxes would decrease and there would be no customs duties.
Possible replacements for Mr. Trudeau include Ms. Freeland, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister; Dominique LeBlanc, who became finance minister when Ms Freeland resigned; Melanie Joly, Canada’s top diplomat since 2021; and Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, who also headed the Bank of England.
Mr. Trudeau, whose government is paralyzed by the lack of a majority in Parliament, said Monday that the legislature had been “totally paralyzed by obstruction, systematic obstruction and a total lack of productivity.”
In his comments in French, he painted an even darker picture of a Parliament that “no longer functions.”
Suspending Parliament, a process known as prorogation, will give his party time to choose a new leader, which Trudeau said would be done through a “robust, competitive and transparent process.” national scale”. A new, perhaps more popular, leader could give the Liberals a stronger base in the next national election.
Suspending Parliament cancels all pending laws but does not affect the day-to-day operations of the government.
Mr. Trudeau has spent a decade building a political brand around his stance as a feminist, environmentalist and advocate for refugees and indigenous people, pursuing the same message of change and hope as Barack Obama. But analysts say Mr. Trudeau’s brand, which seems antithetical to Mr. Trump’s, no longer works for him.
“He caught a wave coming in, and when you catch a wave, it can lift you up,” said Darrell Bricker, a veteran pollster and managing director of Ipsos Public Affairs. “But on the other hand, if you don’t come down, it will pin you to the ground.”
An Ipsos poll released in late December found the Liberals were 25 percentage points behind the Conservatives.
Even if the next election is due to take place by October, a vote could be called or forced sooner.
The Liberal government led by a new prime minister could be short-lived. And soon after the new session begins, the Liberal government will likely face a vote of confidence. It would likely lose such a vote, as it holds only a minority of seats in Parliament and has lost the support of all other parties. This would trigger a federal election.
The Prime Minister also has the power to dissolve Parliament at any time, which would also trigger an election.
