TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation after facing an increasing deficit of back both within his event and in the country.
Now Trudeau’s Liberal event must discover a recent chief while dealing with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to impose steep tariffs on Canadian goods and with Canada’s election just months away.
Trudeau said Monday he plans to remain on as prime minister until a recent event chief is chosen.
He could not recover after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, long one of his most powerful and faithful ministers, resigned from the Cabinet last month.
Trudeau, the 53-year-ancient scion of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, became deeply unpopular with voters over a range of issues, including the soaring expense of food and housing as well as surging immigration.
A recent Canadian chief is unlikely to be named before Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
The political upheaval comes at a challenging instant for Canada. Trump keeps calling Canada the 51st state and has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if the government does not stem what Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S. — even though far fewer of them cross the border from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has also threatened with tariffs.
Trump also remains preoccupied with the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, erroneously calling it a subsidy. Canada’s ambassador to Washington, Kirsten Hillman, has said the U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year. But she noted that a third of what Canada sells to the U.S. are vigor exports and that there is a deficit when oil prices are high.
If Trump applies tariffs, a trade war looms. Canada has vowed to retaliate.
The Liberals require to elect a recent chief before Parliament resumes March 24 because all three opposition parties declare they will bring down the Liberal government in a no-confidence vote at the first chance, which would trigger an election. The recent chief might not be prime minister for long.
A spring election would very likely favor the opposing Conservative event.
It’s not often that central financial institution governors get compared to rock stars. But Mark Carney, the former head of the financial institution of Canada, was considered just that in 2012 when he was named the first foreigner to serve as governor of the financial institution of England since it was founded in 1694. The appointment of a Canadian won bipartisan compliment in Britain after Canada recovered faster than many other countries from the 2008 financial crisis. He gained a reputation along the way as a tough regulator.
Few people in the globe have Carney’s qualifications. He is a highly educated economist with Wall Street encounter who is widely credited with helping Canada dodge the worst of the 2008 global economic crisis and helping the U.K. manage Brexit. Carney has long been interested in entering politics and becoming prime minister but lacks political encounter.
Freeland is also a front-runner. Trudeau told Freeland last month he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister but that she could remain deputy prime minister and the point person for U.S.-Canada relations. An official close to Freeland said Freeland couldn’t continue serving as a minister knowing she no longer enjoyed Trudeau’s confidence. The official spoke on state of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk publicly on the matter. The person added it’s far too early to make declarations but said Freeland would talk to her colleagues this week and discuss next steps.
After she resigned, Trump called Freeland “totally toxic” and “not at all conducive to making deals.” Freeland is many things that would seem to irritate Trump: a liberal Canadian former journalist. She is a globalist who sits on the board of the globe Economic Forum. Freeland, who is of Ukrainian heritage, also has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Another feasible candidate is the recent finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc. The former community safety minister, and a close partner of Trudeau, LeBlanc recently joined the prime minister at a dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. LeBlanc was Trudeau’s babysitter when Trudeau was a kid.
Recent polls recommend the Liberals’ chances of winning the next election look slim. In the latest poll by Nanos, the Liberals trail the opposition Conservatives 47% to 21%.
“Trudeau’s announcement might assist the Liberals in the polls in the short run and, once a recent chief is selected, things could enhance further at least for a little while but that would not be so challenging because, correct now, they’re so low in the polls,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
“Moreover, because Trudeau waited so long to announce his resignation, this will leave little period to his successor and the event to prepare for early elections,” Béland said.
Many analysts declare Conservative chief Pierre Poilievre will form the next government. Poilievre, for years the event’s leave-to attack dog, is a firebrand populist who blamed Canada’s expense of living crisis on Trudeau. The 45-year-ancient Poilievre is a career politician who attracted large crowds during his run for his event’s leadership. He has vowed to scrap a carbon responsibility and defund the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
