Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to resign weeks before Donald Trump inauguration over mounting dissent within his Liberal party. National newspapers The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star reported that sources inside Trudeau’s Liberal party expect him to step down ahead of its national caucus on Wednesday. The announcement may be made in the coming 24 hours, sources told both papers in stories they ran on Sunday. Trudeau reportedly wants to make the announcement before the meeting to avoid it looking like he was forced out by his party’s lawmakers—many of whom have called for him both publicly and privately to resign. His government was dealt a blow last month when his Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland publicly announced her resignation in a letter criticizing the prime minister. Calls for Trudeau’s resignation have grown since Freeland’s exit, but the Canadian premier has largely remained out of the public spotlight during the holidays. Trudeau’s departure would leave his party without a leader just a few months before the next legislative elections, scheduled to be held by the end of October. The 53-year-old has vowed to stay on to guide the Liberals to elections scheduled for October 2025, but has faced further pressure from US incoming president, Donald Trump, who has threatened a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods. Trudeau announced a major shakeup to his cabinet later that month, changing a third of his team in a bid to settle the political turmoil. He travelled to Florida in November to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in a bid to head off a trade war. But the US president-elect has since also landed humiliating blows against Trudeau on social media, repeatedly calling him “governor” of Canada and declaring that the United States’ northern neighbour becoming the 51st US state is a “great idea”. Trudeau swept to power in 2015 and led the Liberals to two more ballot box victories in 2019 and 2021. But he now trails his main rival, Conservative Pierre Poilievre, by 20 points in public opinion polls. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 2008 to represent a working-class Montreal neighbourhood. He brought in Senate reforms, signed a new trade deal with the United States and introduced a carbon tax to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions during his first two terms as prime minister.
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