On Monday, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he would resign as leader of the ruling Liberals after nine years in office but he will stay on in his post until the party chooses a replacement.
Trudeau, under heavy pressure from Liberal legislators to quit amid polls showing the party will be crushed at the next election, announced at a press briefing.
Trudeau, 53, took office in November 2015 and won reelection twice, becoming one of Canada’s longest-serving prime ministers.
But his popularity started dipping two years ago amid public anger over high prices and a housing shortage, and his fortunes never recovered. Polls show the Liberals will badly lose to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.
Liberal leadership races usually take months to arrange and even if the party speeds up the process, Trudeau will still not be leaving office any time soon.
This means he will be prime minister on Jan. 20 when US President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs that would cripple Canada’s economy.
Another worry for the Liberals is the threat by opposition parties to bring down the government. A no-confidence motion could be proposed as soon as the end of March, and if all parties vote in favor, an election will be triggered.
Trudeau, 53, had until recently been able to fend off Liberal legislators worried about the polls and the loss of safe seats in two special elections last year.
But calls for him to step aside have soared since last month, when he tried to demote Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, one of his closest cabinet allies, after she pushed back against his proposals for more spending.
Freeland quit instead and penned a letter accusing Trudeau of “political gimmicks” rather than focusing on what was best for the country.
