On Jan 6. Canada’s embattled prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announced during a live news conference outside one of his parliamentary residences that he intends to resign as Liberal Party leader and prime minister as soon as his party conducts a “robust nationwide competitive process” to select a new leader of the Liberal Party.
He also asked Canada’s Governor General — the country’s representative of The King of Canada — to prorogue the 44th session of Parliament until March 24.
According to a news release, issued by Canada’s House of Commons, “The prorogation of a session brings an end to all proceedings before Parliament. In addition, all currently scheduled committee meetings will be cancelled.”
Speaking in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, Trudeau said that “despite best efforts to work through it, Parliament has been paralyzed for months after what has been the longest session of a minority parliament in Canadian history.”
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process… Last night, I asked the president of the Liberal Party to begin that process. This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.”
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The announcement comes just days ahead of a now cancelled Liberal caucus meeting where it was expected that a number of his members of parliament were going to ask for his immediate resignation.
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Liberals way down in the polls
According to the most recent polls, Trudeau’s party is polling far behind the leading party, the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), which is led by Pierre Poilievre who is widely expected to become Canada’s next prime minister.
Currently, the CPC is expected to win upwards of 236 seats in the upcoming election, giving them a super majority, and the Liberals are expected to walk away with only around 35 seats, down from their current 153 seats.
The polls indicate that the CPC has a more than 99 percent chance of securing a majority government in the next election.
In Canada, whichever party wins the most seats in parliament gets to form government, and the leader of the party with the most seats becomes prime minister.
The Liberal Party of Canada is currently polling in third place, behind the Bloc Québécois, a federal party devoted to the promotion of sovereignty for the province of Quebec.
Trudea’s minority government has survived thanks in large part to a cooperation agreement with another left-of-center political party, the New Democrat Party (NDP), which has allowed Trudeau’s party to continue to pass legislation and function.
The leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh, whose party is polling third, has for months criticised Trudeau’s liberal government but has stopped short of voting non-confidence in Trudeau’s government. A vote of non-confidence in parliament would result in a federal election being called.
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‘What has really changed?’
Following Trudeau’s announcement, Poilievre immediately released a video on social media saying “nothing has changed.”
“Canadians desperate to turn the page on this dark chapter in our history might be relieved today that Justin Trudeau is finally leaving. But what has really changed?” Poilievre said.
“Every Liberal MP and Leadership contender supported EVERYTHING Trudeau did for 9 years, and now they want to trick voters by swapping in another Liberal face to keep ripping off Canadians for another 4 years,” he wrote on X.
Poilievre blasted the liberals, saying that the party’s only objection to Trudeau and his government was that “he is no longer popular enough to win an election and keep them in power.”
The CPC is running on a platform that promises to eliminate the country’s carbon tax, address the housing crisis, fix the budget and “stop the crime.”
The next Canadian federal election needs to be held before or on Oct. 20 of this year, however with Trudeau’s intent to resign and a liberal leadership race about to occur, it could come as soon as this spring.
