Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he plans to step down as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister once a new party leader is determined.
“I intend to step down as party leader, as prime minister, after the party has selected its next leader through a robust, national and competitive process,” he said Monday from Ottawa’s Rideau Cottage.
“I’m a fighter. Every bone in my body has always told me to fight to fight because I care so much about Canadians. I care deeply about this country, and I will always be motivated by everyone for the good of Canadians.” said the prime minister.
The development comes a month after Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet, a sign of apparent upheaval in his government. Trudeau, 53, leader of the Liberal Party, began serving as Canada’s 23rd prime minister in 2015.
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, during the plenary session of the 20 (G-20) Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 19, 2024.
Date Galdieri/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In a letter to the prime minister announcing his resignation, Freeland cited his differences with Trudeau over how to deal with President-elect Donald Trump. tariff threat.
“Our country faces a serious challenge today,” Freeland wrote in the letter shared on social networks. “The incoming administration in the US is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including the threat of 25 percent tariffs.”
“We have to take this threat very seriously,” he continued, adding that Canada needs to step back and confront “costly political tricks” and “build a real Team Canada response.”
Trump has proposed new tariffs on Canada — the third largest supplier of US agricultural products, according to the Department of Agriculture — as well as China and Mexico.
Trudeau travel to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida, to meet with the president-elect last month. Trudeau told reporters at the time that his conversation with Trump was “great” but did not take any additional questions.
In his letter last month, Freeland said Trudeau told him he did not want him to serve as finance minister and offered him another position in Cabinet.
“After consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the only honest and viable course of action is for me to step down from Cabinet,” he said in the letter, adding that he looks forward to continuing to work with his colleagues as a Liberal MP and plans to run again for his seat in Toronto in the next federal election.
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister for intergovernmental affairs, will now also be the new finance minister after Freeland stepped down.
His resignation came as Trudeau’s housing minister, Sean Fraser, announced he would not seek re-election for personal reasons, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.
The next federal election is scheduled for October 20.
Support for Trudeau’s party has been in steady decline for months, and the Liberals are now at their lowest level of support in years. CBC News. The Conservative Party has a 21-point lead over the Liberals in the federal election, according to CBC News.
Trudeau’s father, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, served as Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984 before retiring from politics before the next election.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
