After nine years as the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau on Monday announced that he will step down as PM and party leader once his party, the Liberal Party, has chosen a successor, bringing his time leading Canada to a tumultuous end.
Trudeau, who became Liberal leader in 2013 and the Canadian Prime Minister in the fall of 2015, announced his long-awaited decision outside his official residence, Rideau Cottage, today.
Addressing a press conference in Ottawa, Trudeau said he had asked Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to prorogue Parliament until March 24, and she granted the request. He said Canada “deserves a real choice in the next election” adding “I intend to resign as party leader as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide competitive process.”
Trudeau made this announcement in a much delayed move, only after his position as prime minister became monumentally untenable.
Justin Trudeau had taken office in November 2015, and is one of Canada’s longest serving prime ministers. Although he is responsible for bringing the liberal party back from the dead, he is now also responsible for making it extremely unpopular to Canadians who are facing massive inflation, a housing crisis, law and order crises as well as an immigration catastrophe, among other issues.
His political future was put into a tailspin when Chrystia Freeland, long seen as his top lieutenant, resigned as finance minister and deputy prime minister last month, the day she was scheduled to present the Canadian government’s economic statement to parliament.
Trudeau addressed Freeland’s bombshell departure for the first time publicly at the press conference today saying “I had hoped she would have stayed on as deputy prime minister and taken on one of the most important files the country is facing. But she chose otherwise… In regards to what actually happened, I am not someone who’s in the habit of sharing private conversations.”
Justin Trudeau leaves behind a much debated and mixed legacy.
