Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing what has been described as the “biggest test of his political career,” and is considering responding by resigning.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland quit yesterday, just hours before she was due to deliver an annual fiscal government update in parliament. Freeland said she was “at odds” with Trudeau “about the best path forward for Canada,” and that she had lost confidence in his ability to respond to U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump’s threat of major tariffs.
Former political speech writer Michael Taube quipped that Trump is no doubt “taking some pleasure in helping cause a big political casualty to the leader he’s been taunting for weeks.”
Government sources later told Canada’s CTV News that the PM “has conveyed to cabinet that he is considering prorogation [that is, ending the parliamentary session] or resignation.”
Conservatives have been excitedly highlighting that if Freeland has lost confidence in Trudeau, by whose side she has stood for almost a decade, Canadians cannot be expected to want him to remain in office either.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that under Trudeau’s watch, “everything has gotten out of control,” and called on “patriotic” Liberal voters to ditch the party. He also suggested that the fiscal update supposed to be delivered by Freeland should still be introduced, and that this could serve as a “confidence motion” in Trudeau’s government.
The Conservatives have been leading in the Canadian polls for some time, and will no doubt be given a further boost by the ongoing situation. Even senior Liberal MPs have said it is time for Trudeau to go, including Anthony Housefather, who warned that the PM has passed his “shelf life.”
We need to have a different leader with a different vision if we are to be viable in the next election.
CNN reports that at least seven Liberal MPs have publicly called on Trudeau to step down, “and more have done so privately.”
Trudeau made a number of what could be described as parting comments at a fundraiser last night, saying “it’s the absolute privilege of my life to serve as your prime minister,” and that “I cannot emphasise enough just how proud I am of what we have done over the past nine years.”
He is expected to make a public statement shortly.
