Prime Minister , Justin Trudeau , is resigning after more than nine times leading , Canada, bowing to sagging acceptance numbers and a revolution within his political party.
Trudeau, 53, now the longest-serving president of any , Group of Seven , state, announced Monday he’ll move down as head of the governing , Liberal Party , within weeks. He may be as prime minister until a new president is selected, and parliament has been suspended until , March 24 , while that process is underway.
The champion of the Democratic leadership contest is set to be Canada’s 24th prime minister and will have to quickly make for an election, which the , Traditional Party , is the obvious favorite to win, according to common opinion polls.
” I am not someone who backs away from a fight”, Trudeau said outside his residence on a freezing cold morning in , Ottawa. ” But I have always been driven by my love for , Canada, by my desire to serve Canadians and by what is in the best interest of Canadians”.
” Canadians deserve a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to me that I cannot be the one to carry the Liberal standard into the following election,” he said.
Trudeau’s political future has been shaky for months, as he proved unable to reverse a slide in his party’s fortunes that accelerated after an inflation shock, and the resulting jump in interest rates, took a toll on Canadian households.
He leaves as the most recent leader of an advanced economy to lose his hold on power.  , U. S.  , President , Joe Biden , was forced to drop his run for reelection, Rishi Sunak’s party suffered a humbling defeat in the U. K.’s general election, while German , Chancellor Olaf Scholz , appears set to lose a forthcoming vote.
The Canadian dollar strengthened as news began to circulate of Trudeau’s departure, but pared those gains after , U. S.  , President-elect , Donald Trump , denied a , Washington Post , report that his aides are considering narrowing his tariff plan.
For Trudeau, the fatal blow was administered by , Chrystia Freeland, his longtime deputy prime minister and finance minister. Once one of his closest allies, she stunned the nation on , Dec. 16 , by publishing a stinging resignation letter that indirectly criticized him for” costly political gimmicks” at a time when , Canada , is preparing for a possible trade war with the , U. S.
Freeland’s exit ignited already smoldering discontent across Trudeau’s party. In response to dreadful polls, dozens of elected members of his own caucus pressed him both publicly and privately.
Potential candidates for the Liberal leadership include Freeland,  , Dominic LeBlanc, Trudeau’s childhood friend and Freeland’s replacement as finance minister, Foreign Affairs Minister , Melanie Joly, and , Mark Carney, the former governor of the , Bank of Canada , and , Bank of England. Carney has become involved in Liberal politics since his return to , Canada , in 2020, though he has never run for political office before. He’s chair of , Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.  , as well as , Bloomberg Inc.
The race may also draw others who currently aren’t in federal politics, such as former , British Columbia , Premier , Christy Clark.
A national vote is due by October, but it’s likely it will come sooner. A motion of non-confidence in the government has been approved by the three main opposition parties in parliament. If they follow through on that threat, they would bring down the government, and an election campaign would begin.
” This cannot go on”, Conservative Leader , Pierre Poilievre , said in a video posted on X shortly after Trudeau’s announcement, reiterating his call for an immediate election. Canadians have the power to regain control of their lives and their nation. Take back control of our border. Take back control of immigration. Take back control of spending, deficits and inflation”.
‘ Sunny ways ‘
Politics was always Justin Trudeau’s destiny. His first home, in fact, was the prime minister’s official residence: He was born during the first of his father’s four terms in Canada’s highest political office.
When Trudeau took over the leadership of the , Liberal Party , in 2013, it was still reeling from its worst-ever electoral defeat in 2011 and had lost progressive voters to the left-wing , New Democratic Party. Trudeau assembled a group of young experts to develop plans to legalize marijuana for recreational use, pass a national carbon tax, advance reconciliation with indigenous people, and invest billions in infrastructure.
He promised programs to combat inequality and fiscal policy that would be looser, including budget deficits.
He packed rally halls and projected a positive outlook, which he called” sunny ways,” supported by a well-known name and a knack for retail politics. By , election day , in , October 2015, he’d pulled the Liberals from third place to a historic election victory, boosted by strong support from younger voters.
He was the second-youngest person ever to be sworn in as Canada’s prime minister. It had an equal number of men and women when he unveiled his first cabinet. Asked why, he quipped:” Because it’s 2015″.
Governing proved harder than winning. Oil prices tumbled in the year leading up to Trudeau’s victory, weakening the Canadian economy. Then , Donald Trump , was elected and threatened to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement, risking Canada’s access to the U. S. market, which had become central to Canada’s economy since an earlier trade deal was struck in the 1980s.
Trudeau engaged Freeland, a trusted lieutenant, to negotiate with the Trump administration. One of his most significant achievements as prime minister was the deal struck in 2018, which preserved the majority of the original trade agreement.
Minority years
However, as Trudeau prepared to run for re-election in 2019, an ethical scandal erupted in his administration.  , SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., one of Canada’s largest engineering firms and a big employer in Trudeau’s home city of , Montreal, was charged with fraud and corruption. Attorney General , Jody Wilson-Raybould , publicly accused key members of the government, including Trudeau’s staff, of wrongly pressuring her to assent to a deal that would resolve the charges.
Trudeau won the , October 2019 , election, but the Liberals lost their parliamentary majority and finished second to the Conservatives in the popular vote. The Covid pandemic and its aftermath defined him for a large portion of his final years.
The government quickly launched massive benefit programs, which generated the largest budget deficits in Canadian history, as the economy was in decline in 2020. Trudeau intensified the use of vaccines once they became available, and he then held a snap election for the summer of 2021, a conflict of interest. The Liberals won the most seats, but again lost the popular vote to the Conservatives.
Anger over the government’s Covid rules generated protests in , Ottawa , and other places in the winter of 2022. A convoy of truckers occupied Canada’s capital for three weeks, while other protesters blocked a key bridge that links  , Ontario , and , Michigan. Trudeau used emergency powers to expel them. A judge later ruled that move was an overreach.
Although vaccine rules melted away, the pandemic left surging inflation and interest rates, a global phenomenon caused in part by supply-chain snarls and Russia’s invasion of , Ukraine , in , February 2022. Canada’s central bank embarked on one of the most rapid rate-hiking cycles in its history. For many homeowners, mortgage payments soared. So did rents.
Cost-of-living concerns quickly swamped Trudeau, despite his government’s expansion of the social-safety net through a child benefit, subsidized daycare and federal dental care.
Some economists attributed the government’s failure to stop housing construction while keeping pace with high levels of immigration and keep the pandemic spending taps open too long. In an effort to halt population growth, Trudeau made a dramatic immigration U-turn in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives got their house in order. Chastened by three consecutive defeats, they elected Poilievre a right-wing leader with social-media savvy. He hammered on Trudeau over housing and other affordability issues and sparked opposition to the Liberals ‘ carbon tax while focusing on a small number of economic issues.
In the middle of 2023, voters began to turn firmly against Trudeau, and he has since shown ineffectiveness to close a double-digit polling deficit with Poilievre. In 2024, Liberals lost special elections in once-safe , Toronto , and , Montreal , seats, as well as a , British Columbia , swing seat, crystallizing the change in mood.
The , New Democratic Party, which had agreed in early 2022 to support the government on key parliamentary votes, pulled out that deal in September.
___
© 2025 Bloomberg L. P
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
