Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been fending off no-confidence votes and calls for his resignation for months, found his position increasingly perilous on Monday following the resignation of his deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Chrystia Freeland.
Freeland, long seen as one of Trudeau’s most stalwart supporters, shocked the Canadian political scene by abruptly resigning on Monday. She said Trudeau wanted her to give up her post as finance minister and accept another Cabinet position, but she felt resigning completely was the only “honest and viable path” she could take.
Freeland and Trudeau were feuding about fiscal policy, particularly Trudeau’s mad rush to spend money in a bid to shore up his collapsing popularity with voters. In her resignation letter, Freeland dismissed Trudeau’s spending binge as a haphazard collection of “costly political gimmicks” that Canada could not afford in the face of tariff threats from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Freeland’s missive to Trudeau was a letter of resignation in more than one sense, as she seemed resigned to the Liberal government getting wiped out in the next election.
“Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end. But how we deal with the threat our country faces will define us for a generation, and perhaps longer,” she wrote, chiseling Trudeau’s political tombstone alongside her own.
Trudeau’s other ministers professed their surprise at Freeland’s sudden and heated resignation, after years of serving as the prime minister’s steady right hand. The sense of shock running through the administration made the Liberal Party’s allies even more nervous.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), said on Monday night that it was time for Trudeau to go.
“I’m calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. He has to go. Right now Canadians are struggling with the cost of living. I hear it everywhere I go. People cannot find a home that they can afford. They can’t buy their groceries,” Singh said.
“And on top of that, we have Trump threatening tariffs at 25%, which put hundreds and thousands of Canadian jobs at risk. And instead of focusing on these issues, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are focused on themselves. They’re fighting themselves instead of fighting for Canadians. And for that reason today I’m calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. He has to go,” he said.
Support from Singh and his NDP has been vital to keeping Trudeau in office through several attempts by the Conservative Party to take him down with a confidence vote, most recently on December 9.
Singh said on Monday that “all options” are now on the table, potentially including NDP withdrawing its support if the Conservatives try to push Trudeau out of office again.
Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet bluntly stated on Monday that “Trudeau’s government is over.” He suggested Trudeau should seek “dissolution of the Parliament” and trigger new elections by the beginning of 2025, if not sooner.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre sounded on Monday like he might be considering another confidence vote. Trudeau will probably be saved by the bell, as the House of Commons is set to adjourn for the rest of the year on Tuesday, but the prime minster’s respite may not last for long beyond the holiday break.
“Justin Trudeau has lost control and yet he clings to power,” Poilievre said after Freeland resigned. “We cannot accept this kind of chaos, division, weakness while we’re staring down the barrel of a 25 per cent tariff from our biggest trading partner and closest ally.”
“What we are seeing is the government of Canada spiraling out of control before our eyes,” he said.
“Eighty percent of Canadians have lost confidence in this prime minister. So why is Jagmeet Singh making the entire country wait for him to get his pension? That is the question today,” Poilievre said, taunting the NDP leader for playing coy about whether he would save Trudeau from another confidence vote.
Poilievre sounded like he was gearing up for another run at Trudeau even before Freeland resigned. Last week, he called Trudeau “weak, woke, wacko, and wasteful.”
“He has destroyed our economy, he’s dividing our country, he is a threat to our future. We have to get him out of office,” Poilievre said.
“This guy is a radical extremist. Most of all Justin Trudeau is a diagnosable narcissist. He will tear down the country. He’ll destroy his own party, all to preserve and embolden his ego,” he said.
Poilievre was especially alarmed by Trudeau’s threat to counter Trump’s tariffs with a special tax on Canadian oil sold to the United States. The Conservative leader dismissed that idea as “another insane, divisive, asinine, costly idea from Justin Trudeau.”
Canada’s Global News reported on Tuesday that polls show Liberal support is down to 21 percent, putting the once-dominant party in a tie with Singh’s NDP. Liberal poll numbers have slipped by five points since September.
Darrel Bricker, CEO of the Ipsos polling firm, saw a real danger of the Liberal party collapsing and becoming absorbed by the rising NDP.
“What we’re seeing here is that progressive voters are starting to make a decision to maybe reconsider the NDP. We do know that one of the largest voter blocs in the Canadian population these days continues to be Liberal-NDP switchers,” Bricker told Global News.
CTV News reported the Liberals called an emergency caucus meeting on Monday following Freeland’s resignation. Trudeau himself attended the meeting, but seemed to be somewhat in shock as he emerged, walking robotically past protesters who demanded his resignation.
“It’s obviously been an eventful day. It has not been an easy day, but I wanted to come here tonight and speak with you dedicated, devoted members of the Liberal Party, because you, not me or any other politician, are the beating heart of this movement,” Trudeau said at a Liberal holiday party later on Monday night.
It was hard to tell if Trudeau was trying to rally support from Liberal stalwarts at the party, or saying goodbye. He concluded his remarks by telling them to have a restful holiday and return “ready to show Canadians we have a serious, positive vision for the future of this great country, that is worth fighting for.”
Freeland reportedly attended the same party – and reportedly received a standing ovation, just a few hours after raking Trudeau over the coals with her angry letter of resignation.
CTV tried to take the pulse of the Liberal party after the caucus meeting and holiday party, concluding that Trudeau still has support, but the number of Liberals calling on him to resign has grown substantially in the wake of Freeland’s resignation. Common sentiments included fear that the unpopular prime minister would drag the Liberals down in the next election, and that he is simply no match for incoming President Donald Trump.
Montreal MP Anthony Housefather, a prominent Liberal, said on Monday that the prime minister has “passed his shelf life.” He predicted the party will be wrecked in the next election if “Do I want Justin Trudeau to stay prime minister or not?” is the top question on the minds of voters.
“We need to have a different leader with a different vision for the Liberal Party to be viable in the next election,” he said.
According to CTV News, Trudeau is indeed considering resignation, and possibly dissolving Parliament. He may announce his plans when he addresses Parliament on Tuesday.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.