Canada Political Crisis: Justin Trudeau Likely to Resign This Week

Toronto: Speculations have it that Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau is expected to resign this week starting tomorrow Tuesday but he might continue serving until the council of the ruling Liberal Party selects successor in the summer.

Trudeau is expected to make his final decision before the party’s meeting of national caucus, which is set for Wednesday. He could resign on Monday depending on The Globe and Mail media report.

Trudeau also announced that he would resign as the leader of the Liberal Party, though he would remain in the position during the leadership contest that might last for at least four months. A Liberal Party official suggested that Trudeau may have planned to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in Kananaskis, scheduled for mid-June at a resort in Alberta before he fully steps down.

As Parliament is due to resume on January 27 and with the no-confidence contemplated in the opposition, Trudeau may think of proroguing Parliament to have enough time for the leadership race.

According to Libby, more than half of the 153 Liberal MPs in the House of Commons have claimed that Trudeau should resign, and the figure is closer to one hundred.

Trudeau was back to Ottawa on Friday after skiing during the holidays break in British Columbia. He said he would “ponder” his next move but has not written anything on the subject since then. The only other time he went out in public was to the US Embassy to pay his condolences to the former US President, Jimmy Carter. Trudeau who now has a beard has no planned engagements for Monday except an online Cabinet Committee meeting to discuss Canadian relations with the United States.

Party members are thinking of several possibilities, including the naming of an interim chief, which might speed Justin Trudeau’s resignation.

Conservative Party has been polling more than 20% ahead of the Liberal Party in the recent past. According to a survey from the Angus Reid Institute which was published on Friday, Mr Trudeau is likely to have a strong contender in the form of former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland if she stood for leadership. Freeland’s sudden December 16, resignation aggravated the internal pressure within the party for Trudeau, which led to the present crisis.

The ARI poll highlighted an ironic twist: Given a set of critical stratifying factors such as Freeland’s involvement in the challenges facing the party, the electoral outlook for the Liberal party could be saved by him.

Liberals decided by Trudeau amount to 16%, but, with Freeland at the helm, it is capable of shooting up to more than 20%. Potential other contenders such as former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Indo-Canadian Transport Minister Anita Anand are unlikely to be stars for the party.

There is also much talk about potential outsiders from Trudeau’s cabinet, such as former premier of British Columbia Christy Clark.

Also Read: Ex-Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka Meet PM Modi, Discuss AI Future, Says, ‘Humility at His Understanding of Technologies’.