Thursday16 January 2025
smiua.net

Trudeau announced his resignation as Prime Minister of Canada.

He assured that he would remain in his position until a suitable replacement is found for him.
Трюдо объявил о своей отставке с поста премьер-министра Канады.

On Monday, January 6, Justin Trudeau announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the ruling Liberal Party, but he will remain in his position until a replacement is found.

Source. This was reported by Reuters.

Trudeau made his announcement during a morning press conference on Monday.

Canadian media sources explained that Trudeau decided to announce his resignation ahead of the national Liberal Party convention, which is set to begin on Wednesday. The convention will address the issue of party leadership re-election, and Trudeau is believed to have wanted to avoid a situation where his own party members would remove him from the leadership position.

Recently, the Liberal Party has noticeably lost popularity. Opinion polls predict its defeat in the general elections scheduled for later this October.

In his resignation statement, Trudeau mentioned that he is “fighting internal battles” within his own Liberal Party, indicating that he would not be the best leader for the upcoming elections.

The party will now begin the process of selecting a new leader, who will also become the new Prime Minister. However, this will not be for long: parliamentary elections must take place no later than October 2025, which the Liberal Party is almost certain to lose.

Trudeau has led the party since 2013 and became Prime Minister in 2015 after the Liberals won the parliamentary elections that same year.

At that time, Justin Trudeau became the youngest Prime Minister in Canadian history.

His father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, also served as Prime Minister of Canada, holding office from 1968-79 and 1980-84.

Rumors of Trudeau's resignation had been circulating in Canadian political circles for several weeks. Observers noted that, in addition to the overall decline in the ruling party's ratings, he personally lost support from party members and popularity among colleagues.

Pressure on him within the party has been mounting since the summer of last year, following the Liberals' historic defeat in a by-election in Toronto against their Conservative rivals.

As for public opinion, as of December 2024, only 22% of Canadians reported that they approve of his leadership. This is the lowest rating since he took office in 2015.

In polls, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, is ahead of Trudeau by almost 24%, indicating the possibility of a significant defeat for the Liberals in the upcoming Canadian elections.

Trudeau had previously stated his intention to run for the leadership of the Liberals in the next elections, which are scheduled to take place no later than October 20 but could be set for an earlier date.

It should be noted that in December, just days before the budget presentation, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced her resignation. She is known for her support of Ukraine, has Ukrainian relatives, and speaks Ukrainian fluently.

She opposed the “friendly” relations between Trudeau and Trump, arguing that the upcoming 25% tariffs planned by Trump would devastate the Canadian economy.

Background. We covered this in our article “Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, a supporter of Ukraine, resigned due to a conflict with Trudeau.”