Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces his resignation as Liberal leader and prime minister outside Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Monday, Jan.6, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)
After months of political turbulence and growing unrest, Canada’s Prime Minister has announced he is stepping down as Liberal Party leader, marking the end of a chapter in a tumultuous political era.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday morning that he will be resigning from his position as Liberal leader as he calls for an election this spring.
“I intend to resign as party leader as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process,” Trudeau said in a press conference Monday morning.
Trudeau says that the Parliament has been “paralyzed” in recent months after what has been the longest minority government in history.
Trudeau met with the Governor General Sunday night who granted his request for a new Parliament, which will be prorogued until March 24, 2025.
“This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to me that if I am having to fight internal battles. I cannot be the best option in that election,” he said.
The announcement comes following a Cabinet reshuffling succeeding the tense resignation of Canada’s Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland last month, hours ahead of the government releasing its Economic Statement.
“I had really hoped that she would agree to continue as my deputy prime minister and take home one of the most important files that not just this government, but this country is facing. But she chose otherwise. In regards to what actually happened, I am not someone who’s in the habit of sharing private conversations,” Trudeau said to reporters on Monday outside of Rideau Cottage.
Freeland, who served as finance minister to Trudeau since 2020, left her position due to not being able to “fulfill her duties in good faith,” she wrote in a scathing letter to the prime minister.
Trudeau became Canada’s 23rd prime minister in 2015, and will remain in the role until a new Liberal leader is selected to run in the 2025 election.
When asked if another leader will have more success than he would at beating Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in the next election, Trudeau said, “absolutely.”
“Pierre Poilievre’s vision for this country is not the right one for Canadians,” he said. “I look forward to the fight as progressives across this country stand up for the kind of vision for a better country that Canadians have always carried despite the tremendous pressures around the world to think smaller, to veer towards the hard right, and to be less ambitious for what we can be and do as a country when the world really needs Canada.”
REACTIONS TO TRUDEAU STEPPING DOWN
Political leaders across the country are sharing their thoughts to Trudeau’s resignation and sending politically-fuelled messages ahead of the next election.
Chrystia Freeland put out a brief statement following the news, saying, “I thank Justin Trudeau for his years of service to Canada and Canadians. I wish him and his family the very best.”
I thank Justin Trudeau for his years of service to Canada and Canadians. I wish him and his family the very best.
— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) January 6, 2025
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh released a passionate statement in favour of the orange party, saying that it “doesn’t matter who leads the Liberals, they don’t deserve another chance.”
Below is my statement on Justin Trudeau’s resignation.
— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) January 6, 2025
If you oppose callous Conservative cuts.
If you oppose the rich getting richer while everyone else falls further behind.
Stand with the NDP this time: https://t.co/7rFS9LdsDh pic.twitter.com/hQRB4XvRZu
Poilievre released a video statement following the announcement in which he says, “Canadians desperate to turn the page on this dark chapter in our history might be relieved today that Justin Trudeau is finally leaving.”
Nothing has changed.
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) January 6, 2025
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, just like Justin.
The only way to fix what… pic.twitter.com/YnNYANTs1y
Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said he thinks Trudeau made the right decision by resigning.
“I wish him, after March 24, many years of happiness and serenity. But his successor will have to call elections as soon as they are in their post because, whatever we do, the current Liberal Party of Canada is the Liberal Party of Justin Trudeau,” he said in a press conference on Monday.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May shared her thoughts in a statement, writing, “This morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally admitted the inescapable conclusion that he had to step aside to make room for new leadership. The fact that the announcement could surprise no one is to admit the obvious – over the last year, but particularly the last few weeks since December 16.”
May said it’s been painful to witness the “decline in his support,” and that it has been like watching a “slow-moving train wreck.”
