Justin Trudeau announces his resignation after a decade as Prime Minister of Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this Monday his resignation, both as leader of his party and from his position as Prime Minister of Canada. The Liberal leader will remain in office until the Liberal Party names a replacement.

Trudeau, who came to power in late 2015, has suffered a collapse in his image in opinion polls and a growing revolt within the Liberal Party, which could have pushed him to make the decision. The Canadian seems to have lost the support of the majority of the ruling party’s deputies. Resignation could be a way to avoid the humiliation of being publicly rejected by his own party.

In addition to the revolt within the Liberal Group, the three main opposition parties, including the social democratic New Democratic Party (NPD), have announced that they support a motion of no confidence to bring down the Trudeau Government and force the calling of early elections .

Trudeau’s Liberal Party is in the minority in the Lower House and has governed since the last general election, held in 2021, with the support of the NPD. But the opposition has to wait until the sessions of the Lower House resume on January 27, when Parliament’s Christmas holidays end.

For months now, the Liberal Party has been facing surveys that indicate the collapse of Trudeau’s image among the country’s public opinion due to the sharp increase in the cost of living, the lack of affordable housing and the worsening of public services.

Polls also suggest that the opposition Conservative Party would win the next general elections with more than twenty points ahead of the Liberals, who run the risk of becoming the fourth party in Parliament.

Trudeau’s situation was greatly complicated on December 16 when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unexpectedly resigned and criticized the prime minister’s economic policies. Since then, Trudeau has practically disappeared from public life, while the number of Liberal MPs who support an eventual resignation of the prime minister has increased.

In the midst of this situation, Trudeau is being periodically attacked by the American president-elect, Donald Trump, who has mocked the Canadian leader on several occasions and has even suggested that Canada should integrate into the United States.