This was supposed to be a big year in Canadian politics. A general election was already on the books for October 2025, and it was widely assumed that Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister for the past decade, was facing a serious referendum on his leadership not only in Canada, but on the world stage. The fact that Americans f–ked up our presidential election so badly hasn’t helped either – Trudeau wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Donald Trump, on top of everything else on his plate. And after ten years, there were significant cracks in Trudeau’s power base. Canadians are restless, and it’s likely that Trudeau was looking at a major defeat in this election. So Trudeau chose January 6th to announce that he would step down as prime minister and leader of Canada’s Liberal Party.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada announced on Monday that he would step down as Liberal Party leader and prime minister, a decision that will install new leadership in Canada by late March, after his party picks a new head.
“Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians,” Mr. Trudeau said as he announced his decision in Ottawa, the capital. His resignation sets off a succession battle to replace him after he spent roughly a decade at the helm of both the party and the country.
The upheaval comes as the country is grappling with how best to deal with President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pledge to impose crippling tariffs on all imports from Canada on his first day in office. Canada and the United States are each other’s biggest trading partners. Mr. Trudeau visited Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, in late November, and his government had been in talks to address the president-elect’s concerns about border security in hopes that he would reconsider his tariff threat.
Mr. Trudeau has faced weeks of mounting pressure from inside his party’s ranks. In December, Mr. Trudeau’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, abruptly stepped down in a stinging rebuke of his leadership and stewardship of the country. Her resignation incited a growing chorus of voices from Liberal parliamentarians asking him to step aside for the sake of the party, and let someone else lead the Liberal Party against the Conservatives in the next general election, which must be held by October.
Mr. Trudeau shut down Parliament until March 24 to allow his party to pick a new leader. The action wipes out all pending legislation but does not affect the government’s day-to-day operations.
I feel like the people who were around for Trump’s first term can see which way the wind is blowing and they’re all having existential crises. Except for Macron. President Macron seems to revel in buttering up Trump and manipulating Trump. But everyone else is doing breathing exercises and day-drinking. Obviously, I’m sure Trudeau has many other political problems beyond Trump and Canadian-US relations. But choosing to announce his resignation on J6, two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, is a huge choice.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau,Image: 724195164, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Adam Gerrard / Avalon
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- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (centre left) and the Prince of Wales attend the official international ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, at Omaha Beach in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, joining over 25 heads of state and veterans from around the world.,Image: 879419514, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jordan Pettitt/Avalon/Avalon
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- Justin Trudeau – Diner du XIX Sommet de la Francophonie au Palais de l Elysee NEWS : Diner du XIX Sommet de la Francophonie au Palais de l Elysee – 04/10/2024,Image: 916704182, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: LIONEL URMAN/Panoramic/Avalon
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- Justin Trudeau – Diner du XIX Sommet de la Francophonie au Palais de l Elysee NEWS : Diner du XIX Sommet de la Francophonie au Palais de l Elysee – 04/10/2024,Image: 916704271, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: LIONEL URMAN/Panoramic/Avalon
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, London. Featuring: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Trudeau Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Trudeau arriving ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, central London. Featuring: Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Trudeau Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Interesting, I wonder what Justin will do next?
Write a book
Professor?
He remains a member of parliament unless he chooses not to run again.
I’ve been putting it out into the universe for Mr. Trudeau to make his way down to S. AZ for a romp with me, but somehow I don’t think that will happen so I just hope this beautiful slice of man stays in the public eye.
Hahaha. Well, I’ll double that plea to the universe…Tucson IS really nice in the winter!
Make Trudeau a Drama Teacher Again!
He’ll sit on a bunch of foundation boards, like his mom and brother do, and be very rich. Then someday, once the libs are back in power, he’ll ask to be ambassador somewhere cozy in Europe. Nothing very exciting or out of the ordinary for a former Prime Minister
People might like him again once he’s no longer PM, especially if the new person taking his place is even worse and has no solutions. Likability seems to go in cycles.
He’s already extremely wealthy with money inherited from his father. Being PM probably gives him something to do that he’s not bored with.
He isn’t as wealthy as Poilievre and Doug Ford.
He’s single now. I hope moving on will make it easier for him to date and enjoy life a bit.
Canadian here, and Trudeau didn’t really have much of a choice. (IMHO he probably should have resigned weeks ago, and I say this as someone who usually votes liberal.) The party had been sliding in the polls for a long time, and many members had been calling for his resignation too. I’m not really looking forward to this next election, to put it mildly.
Canadian! Me! Here to say the same thing. And agree with everything that LadyMTL has said.
Agree again!! I’m torn because I’m so very in the fuck Trudeau camp but for so very different reasons than the anti vax loons with the stupid stickers. The treatment of Jody Wilson Raybould. Buying a fucking pipeline. The handling of Israel’s actions in Palestine . The total shrug we’ll continue to fuck over young people in the housing market. The roll out the ten dollar a day daycare that resulted in a lot of providers backing out of the program. I could go on. Though I’m not wild about Kristia Freeland her fuck you no you don’t get to tank my career for your half baked attempt to buy votes letter was SPECTACULAR and on point. Though I’m not delighted either about where we’ll end up next election most likely. Siiiiiigh
The federal government in Canada is not responsible for how the provinces handle healthcare. Blame for problems there lies squarely at the feet of the provincial premiers such as Doug Ford in Ontario.
Jody W-R unethically taped conversations while in office and functioned as a “spoiler” who did little good for Canadian democracy or justice. Just a spoiler.
Chrystia is the spelling of Freeland’s first name. Agree about the HST reprieve gimmick, but that’s not why this happened.
It’s rude to say F-you to any leader who is not actually a fascist. Save your ire to what could so obviously be worse. Trudeau did not deserve your ire, and regulated and affordable childcare is essential to women being able to participate in the economy AND earn their independence.
When Canadian voters stop being petty and spiteful, they may start to notice what the government has actually done and not done for them.
Meanwhile orange idiot is still going on about making Canada a state and doing economic warfare. Let’s wake the hell up Canadians. No politician is perfect and they break many of their promises. That has happened in the history of politics but so many don’t know what happened 5 years ago much less 15 years ago.
The time for purity tests is over when a fascist is next door.
THANK YOU @ Who were these people? Aside from the threat of significantly increasing capital gains tax on second homes/cottages (MORE taxes? just no), I was mostly content with Trudeau as a PM. Those flag flying anti vaxxers are going to realize real quick that JT was actually not the sole cause of their shitty life/life perspective trajectory (see own life choices).
Yeah, no choice. He faced a no confidence vote if he remained and there should’ve been an election this past fall (but it wasn’t called bc he would’ve lost). His tenure ended when his political appointees abandoned ship. Then the NDP bailed, and that was it for the Liberals!
There was no reason for an election last fall. We have a fixed election date for October 2025. I’m not sure where you got the idea that there should have been an election last fall. He did face a non-confidence vote but has won all the previous ones. It has always been in the best interest of the NDP to vote with the government no matter how much Jagmeet Singh protests.
There should’ve because it was expected. I interact with a lot of entities Ottawa for work and many went on record saying they expected an election in the fall. As in fall 2024. Because Liberals have a minority government and the NDP bailed on their support in early fall 2024. Hence the potential for a no confidence vote, which could’ve happened, and which plenty of people expected to happen, this past fall.
It didn’t, and we get resignation instead!
@who were these people, completely agree! This problem has been so multifaceted.
And it’s so rude and incredibly short sided to constantly say F – you to an elected official, who’s not a fascist or a dictator. I disagree with so many of his policies but the level of rudeness and vitriol against him has been so upsetting to witness. The problems we have never start and end with just one person.
Another Canadian here. It saddened me last night to learn about Trudeau’s resignation, but some on SM are saying, I guess he too had already overstayed his welcome. Even the next person that comes after Trudeau, if they overstay, they’ll suffer the same fate. Harper ruled from 2006 to 2015, refused to step down when urged by people in his own party, and the defeat the Republicans suffered will be in Canada’s history books. For the sake of the Liberals, it’s best Trudeau resigns and salvage whatever is left of the party’s credibility. Multiple big guns in his own party have already resigned because of disagreements and infighting within the party itself, so he takes the fall because he is the leader. I think this is better than getting a vote of no confidence because you know that was gonna come next if he refused to step down. So I guess he took the lesser of the 2 evils. I really love Trudeau, and I would have voted for him 10 x over any republican, and it really makes me sad to see him go. But that’s life, everything that has a beginning comes to an end. This is the end of the Trudeau era.😭
By Republican, do you mean Conservative?
Where pray tell in Canada do you come from? We don’t have a Republican party and never have. The official opposition at the moment are the Conservative Party.
Agree with much of this note however, Republicans? By this surely you mean the Conservative Party of Canada – the so-called Progressive Conservatives who are now firmly “Maple MAGA.”
Neoliberalism is broadly unpopular in most western democracies. The problem is that if Trudeau’s replaced by a conservative, Canadians will only hurt more but like Americans, you guys will find out.
I could actually see this same scenario playing out with Macron in a couple years. I hope I’m wrong because the thought of USA, CA, France, and the UK…Italy is already there. Scary stuff for sure…
Reporting live from Canada, the fake-convoy, “F Trudeau” movement is not a protest against neoliberalism. It’s simply the familiar right-wing reactionary forces — deeply racist, fake-churchy, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, and pro-oil/cartels. Its adherents don’t study political philosophy; they are angry because of inflation and housing prices and general reactionary fervor stirred up by an ONGOING pandemic. They think “axe the [carbon] tax” will somehow line their pockets better. They buy pickup trucks and then bitch about gas prices.
Nothing will be stable until governments start taking public health and mass contagion seriously. This was predictable and this is why it’s happening all around the world. It happens every pandemic. Disease shapes history more than war.
Also, the current leader of the Conservatives in Canada is a deeply unlikeable stooge for Steven Harper, the cold & scheming former longtime Prime Minister who has been directing the right-wing, authoritarian political organization the IDU for some time. Another of its leaders is indicted in the USA in connection with the attempted insurrection/2020 “fake elector scheme,” Mike Roman. It’s everywhere. I hope voters think long and hard about their choices.
Well of course Trudeau won’t be popular among the Right–I wouldn’t expect him to be. The people you describe here are cut from the same cloth as Trump-supporters. Absolutely hopeless and beyond saving.
I was merely making the point that his popularity is at 22% and that is among ALL Canadians–not just conservatives. And yes his waning popularity with those on the left and center is born out of perceived and real grievances like frustrations with the rising cost of living and immigration but also because they feel that Trudeau’s leadership hasn’t properly addressed their domestic concerns.
Trudeau outsourced C$100 million in contracts to McKinsey & Company since the Liberal Party came to power in 2015. Trudeau eliminated a rule that prevented temporary foreign workers from staying in Canada for more than four years which allows employers to use cheap foreign labor indefinitely. He praised Doug Ford’s privatization of hospitals and regularly appeared with Ford at corporate welfare events. He pushed through very ambitious and impressive pro-climate legislation even while approving a $34B pipeline that amounts to a $19B subsidy to the fossil fuel sector,
That’s all neoliberalism which is deeply unpopular with people on both sides of the political aisle which is at least partially why Trudeau’s approval rating is sitting at 22%. It’s unfortunate because Trudeau’s reign and subsequent departure opens up a vacuum for a Trump-like monster to fill. Hopefully I’m wrong and you guys elect someone who is a true progressive populist but the signs aren’t great at the moment.
Anyway, I’m with you guys in solidarity regardless. don’t be like us–we are the cautionary tale…
As an American who is trying to learn more about parliamentary systems – so this means that the Liberal party is still in power, but there will be a vote for a new PM (the party votes on that or the public votes on that?) And then in October there will be a new election and then the Liberal party may stay in power (with that same PM presumably?) or the Conservative party may take power and then they elect a new PM?
Trudeau also announced that parliament is prorogued so it is suspended until March 24. The liberal party will be holding a leadership convention prior to then to chose the next leader. So there is no vote by the general public just from those who have a liberal party membership.
Once parliament is recalled on March 24, the opposition parties will likely try to pass a no confidence vote to force an election, but with Trudeau no longer PM, that may not happen.
An election has to be called by October 2025 but since we have a minority government situation if a majority number of opposition parties join up they can change it. BQ has signaled they would go for a no confidence vote in March and of course the CPC. But the NDP who have worked with the liberals from the outset may decide not to force an early election.
I should add that the Ontario government is also looking to call an early election (they have until 2026) and since it is the most populous province, forcing quick elections one after the other will make many people cranky.
@becks1 thank you for your interest in Canada! Depending how wonk you want to go on this Emmett Macfarlane declarations of invalidity on substack covers all of this in more detail. I’m not on Bluesky much but he’s posting more there too. An important step in our democracy was that Her Excellency Mary Simon the GG/governor general had to approve the prorogue request, which she did. I think there is the potential for a legal challenge but hopefully not. as nic919 said there is the possibility of a no confidence vote in the spring and earlier election.
Harper set the precedent for far flimsier reasons in 2008 because he didn’t like the BQ NDP coalition and he was looking to avoid a no confidence vote.
The GG Michael Jean had to get legal advice because what Harper tried was so unprecedented. Ultimately she let him do it because it was for a short period of time, which is also the case here too.
If Emmett didn’t bring this up he’s not worth reading. Phillippe Lagassé is more neutral and he even discusses where the Canadian crown comes into play.
There is no chance this one gets challenged.
Also if we look at Canadian history, parliament was often prorogued including during WWI and WWII. They could call in the MPs for quick sessions to pass bills and then let them return to their ridings since travel was not as easy back then.
So trump issuing crazy tweets really isn’t the same level as WWII and besides Trudeau is still PM and part of the executive. There is still work being done even though parliament is suspended.
Thanks for the info!
so everyone who is a member of the liberal party gets to vote on the new PM, not just members of parliament? Like is it roughly similar to closed primaries here in the US, where only registered members of a party get to vote for the party’s nominee?
And the election could be called before October 2025?
Members of parliament have zero vote unless they are part of the liberal party. The leadership convention is basically a primary except that you have to be a registered member of the Liberal party. I could sign up to be a member tomorrow and have a vote. In fact oftentimes the leadership is decided by how many new members they can sign up and pledge to vote for their candidate.
And yes once parliament reconvenes after March 24, there could be a vote of no confidence and then the government is dissolved and there is an election. The reason why this can happen before October is because the liberals do not have a majority of the seats. They are short by a few seats so they need another party to vote with them. For the first 2 years the NDP had agreed to do it. They are signalling that they may not continue in March.
Same, Canadian here. J6 choice had nothing to do with the American stuff. He was under so much pressure to resign and he probably should have a few months ago. Things are so messed up here, I wanna cry. We have a Trump wanna-be who’s the leader of the Conservative party, cozying up to far-right groups and giving interviews with incredibly problematic people. And now Trump and his terrifs and his BS about Canada as the 51st state is so insulting. Our PM just stepped down and he says we should invade Canada.
I know this isn’t true because of all you good people here, but sometimes I feel like we ( Canadians) have no friends among US politicians.
You know what bothered me? The Meng Wanzhou case…that was an American problem and we took the hit hard. We took it diplomatically and the US never covered for us. We had to go rally allies elsewhere to protect ourselves from retaliation. Such is life as a middle power (if that) stuck next to a blowhard superpower.
Le sigh. I am also feeling defeated. I usually vote liberal (or green party, honestly), and I don’t know who to vote for (not that my vote really matters – I’m in a riding so blue that if you add up every non-Conservative vote it still wouldn’t overtake them). I’m not naive enough to think that Trudeau’s issues are only his own (although he isn’t doing himself any favours), but Poilievre is terrifying and Singh seems – meh – really. I just want to bury my head in the sand like a demented ostrich and hope it all goes away. Just please please please give us someone good to vote for! I miss having hope.
I cmpletely agree with both of you. The people hating Trudeau and calling him a “tyrant” have no idea what real tyranny is, and electing Poilievre is going to such a massive mistake. He is a Trump-wannabe, and is using the same tactics of lies and smearing opponents, twisting the truth and acting without any kind of professionalism. He courts the extreme rightwing of anti-vaxx (got coffee and donuts for the Convoy people), and pals around with white supremacists.
He talks about how he hates “woke” and that pretty much says it all right there. Being “woke” is just about being aware if social injustice and wanting to try to correct it and help the most vulnerable. It’s about being thoughtful & kind, compassionaste rather than just thinking about yourself and what benefits just you. It’s about wanting things to be better for all, so our societyoverall is better.
He said that he wouldn’t have helped Canadians financially during Covid… something many relied on to put food on the table when they couldn’t work… he has zero empathy, and is smug and arrogant. He will cut all the programs that help struggling families and yet they think he’ll be their Saviour because they hate Trudeau so much. They are so ignorant to who controls what.
The Cons are working to destroy health care and education so they can push privatization. Many of them have family who own businesses or have investments in private health care staffing. For the Cons it’s all about their own profit and power. Poilievre is Stephen Harper’s protege & Harper now heads up a global rightwing extremist organization that works to get Rightwingers into power across the globe. It’s full of extremists and fascists. They will dismantle anything the Libs have done to try to mitigate gloabl warming and will follow the same playbook the US GOP…campaigning on fear and hate about immigrants who look different coming in, society changing and becoming more about tolerance and understanding rather than shame and ignorance. Riling up weak white men who think they are being emasculated by powerful women and losing their “rightful” place in the “traditional family” etc. At heart, it’s all about fear and ingrained racism, bigotry and ignorance. Poilievre is going to do his best to turn Canada into another Republican-ruled US and move us, like the US, towards fascism. Scary times.
Yeah, it would have been smarter to step down months ago and give the party time to have a real leadership race before elections are called. I doubt stepping down earlier would prevent the conservatives winning the next election, but maybe it’d be by a lesser margin. Stepping down now, with the start of Trump mandate could still perhaps remind enough Canadians that Poilièvre will be an absolutely horrible Prime Minister so maybe once the government gets a no confidence vote in March, we can hope for a minority government. I’m not looking forward to the next 4 years, as a woman, a Quebecer, a life scientist and someone who actually cares about the climate crisis, a Poilièvre majority can’t bring anything good.
me too. I really like JT, even with his flaws, I still think he’s been great for the country.
Perhaps Freedland can pull the liberals out of the nosedive and save the country from Pierre Poilievre.
Right?! The man legalized cannabis ~a year to the day of the anniversary of Gord Downie’s death, no less~ and added *Billions* to our GDP!
And to those who fly the “F Trudeau” flags…when did we get so crass?!! How is that acceptable in any shape or form?
JT attempted to do quite a few “good for Canada” things. And just as many controversial things. Living in BC, politics is almost a sport. I can’t vote for regressive politics. The conservatives, with their 3 word slogans, continue to gain support amongst the “it’s someone else’s fault” believers. Sure, blame low wage earners, women, anyone not white, and Trudeau. In reality, its corporations and the ultra-weathly, who could do more to improve the average worker’s lives by paying a decent wage, supporting the health of their workers and embracing daycare for those who need it. What Pierre is offering stinks to high heaven. I want no part of a political organization that allows Nazis as members. Its 2025 not 1935.
Canadian here too. There is something antidemocratic about the bullying out the PM by a bunch of ministers chosen by the PM, for a top position that has been elected by the people. Feels like Joe Biden last summer. He should have been able to complete his term and obvisouly he wouldn’t have ran again or stayed in the party as leader. His ministers watching the polls go down and possibly acting just to keep their jobs isnt democratic. I want to know from each Minister exactly what they’re against Trudeau publicly and not feel like they’ve ganged up agaisnt him just because because
Its not anti-democratic nor is it at all the same as what happened to Joe Biden. We do NOT vote for Prime Minister – that’s not how it works in a parliamentary system. We vote for our MPs. Each of these ministers is working for the constituents in their riding. The party with the most seats (or MPs) makes up the government (either majority or minority), then the leader of that party assumes the role of PM, they are not elected to it. There is nothing anti-democratic about what’s going on. Petty, maybe, unprofessional, sure but not un-democratic.
If anything, what was anti-democratic was how power and decision making became centralized within Trudeau’s closed-circle of non-elected officials… Just like Harper did before him. We don’t elect the Prime Minister and while the liberal party does not have a procedure to vote out a party leader that overstays their welcome, there’s nothing wrong with strongly pushing for a change in leadership.
Every western election in the past two years has been won by the opposition party. I think there is a lot of unresolved trauma from Covid that is making people seek change of any kind, even if it is, ultimately, for the worst.
Yes, I agree. People are blaming governments, even governments that handled covid well, for the trauma of the pandemic. They’re focusing on covid mitigations and management as the pain and fear instead of the virus itself.
Disinformation and misinformation networks have seized on people’s discontent to flood the zone with lies and the result is a huge number of disaffected misinformed people just ripe for the picking by the radical right. It’s alarming.
The opposition party has won in every western election in the past two years. People are angry and fed up and looking for change of any kind, even if it is bad change ultimately.
Exactly THIS! You said exactly what I am thinking (a Canadian here).
Sort of. The same sweeping change happened in 1993 when the conservatives were reduced to 2 seats. It’s a ten year cycle roughly to change from liberal to conservative in Canada. And that has been the case since 1984.
Honestly I don’t think it has *that* much to do with Trump. The timing has way more to do with Chrystia Freeland’s resignation, and that yesterday was the natural “back to business” day after the holidays. (Of course the fact that I’m a teacher and yesterday was the first day back to school probably influences my feeling about the natural back to business day.)
However, I stand by my thinking that Freeland’s letter plus a couple weeks to really evaluate his options, plus the fact that a non-confidence vote is inevitable in the near future is what this is about. Trump and his tariffs may be a background issue (because the same right-wing rage stoking has been going on here as well), but Trump’s inauguration isn’t the deciding factor.
This! It had nothing to do with Trump. In fact Trudeau and CF have the most experience dealing with Trump, however Trudeau was declining in the polls initially as a result of (misplaced) anger over Covid lockdowns (which had been overseen by provincial governments not federal), the skyrocketing housing costs (thanks to the financialization of housing etc ) and the grocery monopoly we have in Canada. The timing for this is horrendous and I’m worried about the future. The orange troll banging on about the 51st state just adds to the surrealism.
What is going on in the world? Fascism is taking over. I don’t think the world is becoming more religious so it boggles my mind who/what is really behind it. Is it Russia, billionaires posing as ultra Christians, a death rattle for the races/religions that see themselves being “replaced”? Maybe there is no one answer but at one point there was hope and it seemed that some got so mad about that hope that ithey lost their senses!
There’s been outside interference in Canadian politics as well. Russia, China and India seem to be the culprits. India seems to have ordered the assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist in British Columbia – on Canadian soil. India is thought to also have interfered in the Conservative party leadership race, on behalf of the [goon] who was installed. A investigative report is supposed to come out at the end of January, which is said to be why the Conservatives were trying to force an election before that point. Now thanks to the prorogation of Parliament, they won’t get it. And that’s good. The more time people have to cool off, and to consider the role of Trump in Canadian functioning, maybe the saner the next election. Maybe some have already come to appreciate the role federal dental insurance or the beginning of national Pharmacare (starting with diabetes drugs, and contraception) play in their lives. Watch this space.
Yes, Kaiser is completely wrong in thinking it’s related to Trump. The turning point was the resignation of Chrystia Freeland, but this ending has been in the cards for a while.
This scenario is eerily similar to what happened with President Biden. But ten years is much longer than four years. I would say that it seems Trudeau hung around too long. The situation may not be salvageable. However, I predict he will be succeeded as party leader by a woman who will be expected to throw herself on the live grenade the man left behind.
Yeah, and JT loved being contrasted to Trump. He’s good at the media image game and liked being seen as the alternative to the horror in the US, instead of actually working to enact progressive policies here.
Let’s not forget that Kim Campbell because the first female PM for a few months after Brian Mulroney resigned in 93 and the party was reduced to 2 seats. I don’t have faith that the liberals would fare much better if they focus on a woman as leader. As it stands Freeland is too tied to Trudeau and Christy Clark is a BC liberal and basically a red Tory.
Also there is a large enough segment that have issues with identity politics and I think putting a woman in charge would be another glass cliff situation. Not that there aren’t qualified women for the job but the public is too warped by social media and sexism to not use her gender against her.
Yes, absolutely. Date is pure coincidence. This was coming, and it was the first business day back. Canada is closely tied to the US but not in this instance. That said, the stupid “convoy” occupation of Ottawa was an attempted January 6th, putting Trudeau in danger and creating enormous problems for people living in the city of Ottawa. The occupiers desecrated national monuments, waved Nazi swastikas, and were supported by the current (perhaps illegally installed) leader of the Canadian Conservative Party. In a key border crossing in Alberta, they had a stash of weapons and also cost the Canadian economy millions in stalled trade. Just FYI, the Proud Boys was founded by a Canadian. No one is immune to hate.
I feel like trump’s presence has affected canada though, as unfortunately things that happens in the states tends to permeate into Canada and colour it to a certain extent. However, I also feel like JT’s also made many misteps,even though he also gets blamed for a lot of things out of his control as well. All this coupled with the rise of MAGA just means he was on his way out . Even before Freeland left, his chances of winning the upcoming election were low. Her resignation was just the last nail in the coffin.
The world does not revolve around the states as much as Americans think it does. Trudeau has been facing calls to resign for over a year, well before orange idiot got reelected. On top of that Canadian governments tend to last around two terms and then suddenly Canadians want a change and then the party switches. Trudeau is the first PM in a long time to have global recognition but that pattern existed basically since trudeau’s father resigned in 84.
Will Trudeau resigning avoid a Brian Mulroney / Kim Campbell scenario? Hard to say.
This ^^ is the pattern. Just…Poilievre feels like a Trump/Musk hybrid and I loathe him. The next 8 years are gonna be scary.
Yes,this is not about Trump. This has been a long time coming and is how Canadian politics go, often both Federally and Provincially. As they say, we never vote anybody in here, we just vote people out! Trudeau had just done his time and people start looking for someone to blame their problems on instead of looking how their actions have contributed to the situation. I agree the pandemic impacted us in ways we don’t fully understand yet. But I do know it’s left a lot of Canadians bitter and angry and just shocked who, even our loved ones, have become. Relationships have changed and most not for the better. Plus anytime the cost of living goes up and people have a hard time affording things, the person at the top is going to be voted out. Then we vote out the Liberals by voting in the Conservatives and then the Conservatives do things like, make cuts, bail out big businesses, make racist and misogynist policies; and take away our mail boxes and we all go “shit! I forgot Conservatives do those things”, and we vote them out while the NDP, BQ, and Green party try to see who they’ll support. Luckily our geography, or sheer size, makes it much harder to make any major changes quickly. So, no, this wasn’t really about Trump. If the polls were in Trudeau’s favour he would have stuck around and helped us fight these Tariffs you guys are threatening us with and shut down this disgusting vitriol about making us a state. As if!!!!!!
The Liberal caucus has been feeling this for awhile. His polling numbers have been down for two years at least and the party has done poorly in three key bye-elections over the last year.
He had alienated many of his former key advisors but it was Freeland stepping back that was the nail in the coffin. The news dropped right before budget lock up!!!! Like the timing of her stepping down was positioned for maximum effect. For years, she had been his most loyal minister and taken on the most thankless roles. For her to step back was shocking. Also there was no leaks before she dropped the news which is exceedingly rare for Ottawa. For example, a few days earlier, another one of his ministers announced he wouldn’t be running again and that news was all over Ottawa circle the night before it hit the public. Almost everyone i know, still connected in those circles said the Freeland news had no leaks.
But even before that, he was getting pressure from the Ontario and Quebec Liberal caucuses(two of the three most powerful regions you need to hold seats in to win in Canada’s FPTP system).
I think he did a solid job as PM with some really bright spots but he has become increasingly insular and ego-driven in the last few years and unable to feel where the wind was blowing. I’m pissed he didn’t step down at the Liberal caucus meeting last summer. I thought if he stepped back then he would have had the best chance to salvage the party’s position at the polls. It has always been a slim chance they would win another mandate given the way Canadians tend to replace incumbents who have stayed in power for a long time but by waiting till now, I think the party is in even worse shape. I hope some of the better Liberal candidates don’t run and keep their powder dry. Instead, I hope they put in a caretaker leader who can help be the face of the next election’s likely loss.
I truly dislike the current conservative leader. He has been spewing dangerous rhetoric for awhile now and pretends like he’s a political outsider even though he has been an MP since he was 24. The polling doesn’t look great right now but I hope we can contain the conservatives to a minority in parliament.
Scary times. With him gone, Pierre Pollivere is likely our next PM. He’s talked about dismantling our medical system (amongst other things he’s threatended to do). and is considered by many to be similar to Trump in many ways. I’m very worried what he’ll do to us all if he gets in.
I don’t trust him or like him at all.
I actually think we have a better chance of avoiding PO as our next prime minister now. Trudeau was done. People are tired of him and a new charismatic leader can potentially pull it off.
Vote strategically people. Remember we do not vote directly for prime minister. If you vote ABC – Anything But Conservative – you will need to vote to whichever candidate in your riding has the best chance of beating the Conservative candidate. Country over party. Seriously. You’ll always have more chances to support your party of choice in a future election. If you value the Canadian health care system and the lives of women and children, please vote strategically.
Except that healthcare (and education) are provincial concerns, not federal. But otherwise agree – vote for the best interests of Canada.
Pollivere is a disaster waiting to happen. He is an unserious man who like Trump goes for sound bites and lining his own pockets. Unfortunately most Canadians don’t do any research before they vote, which is why as a Canadian in Ontario I have been dealing with life under Doug Ford for a better part of a decade. Every single person who can vote needs to vote in this upcoming election, so that we have a fighting chance of even a minority Conservative government which I think is the best case scenario at this point.
No PP is NOT likely our next PM. It’s that type of rhetoric that Cons love because it is defeatist and creates voter Apathy. If you our based in Eastern Canada get active get people out to vote and do not let your foot off of PP neck his latest stunt with Jordan Peterson is good fodder to remind Canadians that we have facists to and they are coming for us all. I refuse to just accept that and even though I am in BC I will use any and all leverage and platform I have to activate. You should too, please:)
I’m in BC as well. I will fight as hard as I can to stop him. I will never vote for him. He’d be the worst thing for Canada. I generally try to vote locally & NDP have done many good things for us in our area.
I read yesterday that Christy Clark is thinking of running for the leader position. That horrible corrupt woman. People won’t forget what she did to our Province and the damage she left behind.
Trudeau resigning makes that scenario far less likely because although Trudeau had high negatives in polling, PP has maintained the next highest level of negatives from day one. He turns people off and the more people hear him the more they don’t like him.
Also there was a huge social media smear campaign against Trudeau. And that same one boosts PP. Canada proud and other groups are likely to be funded by foreign entities. Jordan Peterson has been shown to be funded by Russia. So a lot of the pro PP stuff is fake or bots. PP has a smarmy air and benefitted from people disliking Trudeau more than liking him.
I’m hoping like mad for Mark Carney. He is an economist, former head of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England. He is very bright, experienced, global, has an environmental track record and has spoken eloquently about the possibility of potential the pandemic had on economic scarring for vulnerable populations including youth, women, indigenous and people of colour. He is a deep thinker with real world experience and gravitas.
My current theory is PP will win a minority government in the next election propped up by the Bloc but he will piss them off within a year leading to another election and more infighting in the PC side. As long as the Liberals/NDP/ Green don’t split the vote on the other side.
@Leah I hope you are right. I live in Alberta, (the original home of the F Trudeau movement) and living with Smith, I am so worried for the future if PP gets a majority. The NDP/Green/Liberal need to work together if we don’t want the Cons to get that majority.
This is very concerning. After a decade in power, Canadians have a tendency to vote for change for change’s sake. However the problem is that the Conservative Party of Canada has been hijacked by a group of MAGA-lite wannabes who have slowly and insidiously running the MAGA playbook here. The current conservative leader cosied up to the convoy occupation of Ottawa, kisses up to Jordan Peterson and his ilk and would easily be Trump’s useful idiot. Charlie Angus, an NDP member of parliament wrote an excellent piece – which was basically “you may not like Trudeau but think long and hard about what you want Canada to be”. I am terrified for my country.
This is all sadly familiar to New Zealanders too. We had Jacinda Ardern as our PM for two terms. Her government shepherded us through covid, very successfully, but we had our own occupation and convoy and the opposition cozied up to those people too. We now have a right wing government that’s trying to remove the rights of our indigenous people, mine and quarry conservation land, and prepare our public assets and services for sale. It’s very bad and you don’t want it. I’m a Canadian citizen and a New Zealander and I’m really worried for both countries.
I’m a New Zealander and have a different view to Jacinda as PM. The Covid Lockdowns were managed better by Ashley Bloomfield, the then Director General of Health, while Jacinda used the 1pm daily Covid news briefing as a platform for her politics. She was too slow in closing the borders and more reactive than proactive. She was, though, very good at managing the press for good photo ops. I was very unimpressed that after years of saying she was a communist that she accepted a gong. And not from NZ’s Governor General as outgoing PMs usually do, no, she got hers from William. Much of the cost cutting and job losses now in Parliament have to happen due to overspending in the Labour years where, amongst other things, she would not answer questions from the press but would send those questions to working groups filled with overpriced consultants. Seymour and his bandwagon is just noise and the law he proposes will never get passed.
David Seymour is doing real harm, with the divisive farce that is the Treaty Principles Bill, which should never have been allowed to progress at all. But also with his other bills to quietly capture regulatory standards for the benefit of corporations, and his attacks on education and workers. And Luxon is allowing it all, so he’s ultimately responsible for all the unrest and upheaval.
As far as the economy goes, it was on track for growth under Labour. It’s crashed because Willis gave nearly $3billion to landlords and then cut the tax take with her top heavy and basically useless tax cuts. $20 a week isn’t helping anyone. To cover those things she’s borrowed more than Robertson ever did and he had covid to contend with. And she’s also cut services and staffing as hard as she can to try to cover her deficit. The layoffs and subsequent economic pain are all on her/Luxon. Nothing to do with Labour at all.
As a Canadian, this is giving me huge anxiety. With Trump’s cracks about Canada being the 51st state, plus talking about buying Greenland, taking over Mexico and taking back the Panama Canal, it really feels like these evil men have circled a chunk on a map that they want to rule. And then you have Russia, and now Elno, interfering in international politics. I’m not a conspiracy theorist but it certainly feels like there’s been a plan in motion for years.
Yes it feels like we are all trapped in a giant Bond film with international worldwide corporate villains who have put all the pieces in place to take over the world.
Trump and his band of merry havoc-wreakers are drooling over getting their grubby hands on Canada’s natural resources. They will stop at nothing and will align themselves with like-minded dictators like Putin who would like nothing better than taking over the Arctic. If Pierre Poilievre’s conservatives win the election, even as a minority gov’t, we can expect no carbon tax, plenty of funding for research and innovation and the promotion of nuclear power, liquefied natural gas, carbon capture, etc. — all measures that will not restrict the burning of fossil fuels. He grudgingly acknowledges that climate change is real and said the best way to address it is by producing the “cleanest, greenest” oil and gas “anywhere on Earth.” WTAF? This is nothing but pure political jabberwocky. PP has aligned himself strategically with groups like the International Climate Science Coalition, who dispute that greenhouse gases are a cause of climate change. He’s also aligned with a group called Campaign Life Coalition, one of Canada’s most influential anti-abortion groups. So I and many other Canadians, are very worried about the far-right conservatism PP’s party is pushing, and many buying into. The Federal Conservative party has a huge lead over the Libs right now so the choice of Liberal leader is absolutely crucial. Mark Carney certainly has the economic credentials to lead the party, especially in a tariff war with the Orange Menace, but either way you look we will have a Conservative gov’t.
Carney doesn’t have the name recognition with most Canadians. I say this as someone who would love to see him eventually really get involved in politics beyond advising.
A few key things to consider- most Canadians don’t know him. They don’t know or follow monetary policy and to the extent they know the Bank of Canada they don’t know who the Governor is yet alone the former one(even though he probably was more known in that role then most). Secondly, Canadians don’t love technocrats or nerds who run. The history of Canadian politics is littered with the political bodies of leaders who didn’t resonate with voters because they were seen as too smart and nerdy. When i was young and bright and less cynical I worked on Dion’s campaign. It was too wonky and he couldn’t connect to most voters even though it kills me because the country would have been in much better shape if we had been able to adopt any of his environmental policies. Carney is brilliant but also a technocrat and long-winded. I have seen him speak multiple times. Have you read his book, Values?
Finally, consider the example of Michal Ignatieff’s short time as Liberal leader. He was a brilliant man but spent most of his working life outside of the country. His leadership was distrusted in part because he was seen as an outsider with weak ties to Canada and the conservatives did a great job as painting him as “not really Canadian” and “out of touch with the country.” Carney spent years leading BoE then was the UN special envoy on climate. I think they probably want to either run a similar playbook.
If he is serious about trying to be PM one day, i hope he keeps his powder dry, runs for a seat and bids his time. If the Liberals manage to make it to official opposition, I would love to see him as finance critic but I worry given his incredible career success and ego, he will want to skip the work, slip into saviour mode and lead the party but with terrible results. We forget this now but when Trudeau first started out, he didn’t let the Liberal party parachute him into a safe Montreal riding to run. He ran in Papineau, one of the poorest, most diverse ridings in Quebec that had changed hands between the Liberals and the Bloc. He put in the work even though his elevation came relatively quickly.
I don’t think he realized the connection to January 6th. I think it was a fluke the dates coincided. He was going to get pushed out and had to announce now, if not before.
It was the first working weekday post holiday break and the Freeland resignation letter just before Christmas really ramped things up. It is a coincidence that it was Jan 6.
Canadians are going to learn the hard way. This same thing happened in 2005 when the infighting and backstabbing in the Liberal party ended Paul Martin’s career as a prime minister citing “corruption” blah blah blah. Once Martin got kicked out, the Conservatives made sure to vote in Steven Harper and that man and his party wreaked havoc on Canadians it wasn’t even funny. Now the same whinners have kicked out Trudeau. I’m already bracing myself for hard times that are coming.
We have to keep in mind that Quebec hates PP and is likely to go for BQ. They are a progressive party in most ways. Also NDP is still an option. Harper only got a majority government once so there is a chance to contain the MAGA lite bs. Also most Canadians are turned off by orange idiot and his talk of making Canada a state. Around 82% and really is there anything else where so many Canadians are on the same side?
What we need is the media to do their damn job and show PP and his party for what they are. Sadly Postmedia is owned by the states and acts like Fox News North, but I think a lot of the Trudeau hate won’t necessarily mean support for PP
Part of the problem is that traditional media are becoming irrelevant. Remember that PP’s rise to popularity coincides with Meta banning legit Canadian news medias from its platforms… Harper showed that you can have a majority without many seats in Quebec (heck the CAQ showed you can win a majority in the province even without seats in Mtl); while the Bloc will likely earn many seats in the province, it won’t stop the conservatives from forming the next government. I hope that Trudeau’s stepping down will lead to a minority govt but if elections were held tomorrow, the conservatives would get over 230 seats and the libs would be lucky to keep 30
@lawrenceville expecting competence from the Canadian Prime Minister isn’t whining. The Liberals have sucked for such a long time and especially so under Justin Trudeau. As PM his primary focus seems to be press conferences and sound bites and finding ways to enrich his friends. Also he has ruled with an iron fist and crushed any internal dialogue or descent within the party. Not very healthy for democracy and leaves a major leadership vacuum now that he’s gone. IMO he has done Canada and any liberal or centrist Canadians a great disservice.
If Trudeau didn’t have trouble at home he wouldn’t have resigned. He’s very unpopular and the party was turning against him. There were rumblings that members of the party were going to kick him out as leader anyway. That’s why he resigned yesterday.
This. Neoliberalism is broadly unpopular in most western democracies. Handsome guy, though.
Trudeau got his mother’s looks, okay? He is also an intelligent person and has been a steady and even-tempered leader, managing Trump I deftly and working the Canadian economy through the emergency phase of the pandemic better than did the USA. He also came out, with Freeland’s help, swinging for Ukraine early and often. Back to pandemic management: Our benefits were more generous and efficient. He signed deals for Canada to produce vaccine in the country, a capacity that Steven Harper sold off to foreign interests. We brought down inflation earlier than the USA, but it stays hard to fight the grocery cartels. Again, the F Trudeau/ MAGA Maple people are not political philosophers. It’s a deeply racist, nativist, right-wing movement capitalizing on widespread anti-incumbency feelings, no matter who the incumbent is worldwide. The world is simply unstable right now. If avian flu starts to transmit human-to-human, dictatorships will rise even quicker. There’s something everyone can do about this last bit, but after 5 years of airborne viral transmission, you know what that is.
As a Canadian, I’ve been proud to have JT as our PM the last nine years. Unfortunately, like many incumbents, he’s wearing the pandemic as well as the failures of provincial governments (many desperately need civics lessons).
It’s his time. I hope they pick a new leader who isn’t too closely linked to JT and presents a progressive vision (rather than picking his deputy PM or pandering to the right after seeing what happened in the US).
I’m also scared of Pierre Poilievre. He’s extreme and is constantly sharing conspiracy theories and other nonsense. After 20 years in Parliament, he’s achieved nothing for Canadians. He wants to dismantle our national media, gut healthcare and would likely welcome becoming the “51st state.”
Well siad.
Let’s call it what it is, when the Reform party merged with the Conservatives we ended up with very powerful very right leaning semi Nazis – whose agenda is very similar to MAGA. They will decimate social programs and push for a 2 tier health system. They will also reduce budget funding for science, and anything else that doesn’t meet their agendas. As a former federal government employee who survived (barely) the Harper regime, Canadians need to be VERY mindful of the policies the Conservatives are pushing.
I urge you to find and watch “ The Family” , The series examines a conservative Christian group—known as the Family or the Fellowship—its history, and investigates its influence on American politics as well as Canadian politics. It’s frightening to think of the power these people wield.
2025 is shaping up to be a horrible year politics wise. And when there are “big stories” (drones/UAP) always consider what these are meant to distract us from the real agenda. At this point Aliens showing up is looking good
Thanks for mentioning the Reform party because yes they turned the previous Conservative Party into a social Conservative Party. Harper kept the anti choice idiots mostly quiet, but he did cut off funding to international groups that provided abortion services. PP will try to do it as well. And the whole trans issue will be front and centre too. On top of that, if you are in a province with a conservative premier that will embolden them too.
Yes, in Ontario we are already seeing the grocery cartel muscle its way into healthcare by offering private clinics and replacement for family doctors. Ford has done nothing but privatize and reduce public funding for healthcare. He’s sitting on federal money given him for pandemic relief. This is the future and people are kidding themselves if they think privatizing will in any way improve their access to health care, and/or its quality.
This was in the cards for a while, it wasn’t about Trump, it was about public fatigue with him and in-fighting. He shod have stepped down last year and I say that as someone who likes Trudeau and thinks he was a very good Prime Minister.
I agree that this was untenable for him to continue.
But we can’t forget that there’s been a huge push from the media about his popularity that started with the Ottawa convoy. There are common elements between MAGA and conservatives here.
The Ottawa convoy was funded by U.S. right wing groups. So for all the foreign interference accusations, we need to start there. All talk of suspending bank account for the organizers of that fascist occupation was because they were getting money outside of Canada to block the borders and the capital city. And the Ottawa police and OPP failed in Ottawa because many of the cops agreed with it.
The only problem is that Trudeau had nothing to do with truckers needing to be vaccinated to enter the states. That was an American law and really it was Joe Biden who made that rule. Most of the restrictions were implemented by the provinces, many of whom were conservative premiers.
So it was a false information campaign against Trudeau and unfortunately too many dumb Canadians didn’t understand the multiple levels of government or how borders work.
So many dumb Canadians fell for it. The foreign interference in Canada from right wing groups in the US, India and Russia (with lots of help from Harper and the IDU) is scary. Pierre Poilievre’s refusal to get top security clearance is a massive red flag.
The report following the use of the Emergencies Act during the convoy pointed to the failure of Doug Ford to do his job. But anti-vaxxers and the F Trudeau crowd only glommed on to the part about how it shouldn’t have been used. Yes, it shouldn’t have been used IF Doug Ford had done his job.
Ford was hanging out at his cottage is muskoka taking photos while Ottawa was under siege. He only did something once the convoy idiots went to Windsor to try to block access to the ambassador bridge. That lead to factories in Ontario and Michigan having to shut down and lay off thousands of people because parts could not make it across the border. Gretchen Whitmer called up Doug and told him to fix it or else Americans companies would be moving their feeder plants back to the U.S. and suddenly the RCMP was called into to Windsor to move the protestors out. And they didn’t do anything in Ottawa until the emergencies act was practically signed.
I’m surprised no one had mentioned IDU yet
Harper leads it
Pierre Poilievre is his pick
Doug Ford is a member
Boring Johnson became a member after Brexit, Liz Truss too
Michael Flynn pushed the convoy here Roger Stone and Bannon too.
Many of the worst politicians in the USA speak or are part of the IDU
Someone above mentioned The Family, it is a needed watch to see what’s happened globally.
We are all in for a wild ride unless enough decide to look before voting
Don’t forget Mike Roman. He likes to stick his finger in Canadian politics too (including the “truckers’ shenanigans
I’ve met Harper in an apolitical social setting. I don’t agree with his economic theories and would never vote for him, but the guy is definitely politically centre-right and he’s very intelligent.
PP is an idiot and he’s all about marketing himself, not leading a country. I feel like Harper has leaned into him because a) PP is popular in Alberta and b) some of Harper’s deepest wishes around social values might be actualised if PP gains control. I think Harper was smart enough not to push his personal agenda too far when he was PM so that he could retain power, but all bets are off in the 2020s.
I agree with what someone wrote above about Canadians always just voting for a change, rather than a new governing party, which is why this worries me the most. While this article was way off with respect to Trump being a factor in JT’s resignation, the fact is that Canadians are all too apathetic with Trump’s re-election and what happened in the States could be a precursor of the dismantling of what we hold dear, especially health care.
Like others have said, Trudeau’s announcement had nothing to do with J6 or Trump. With the greatest of sympathy and respect to our American neighbours, Jan 6th was simply the first Monday back after the Christmas holidays for most Canadians. There were initially rumours over the weekend that Trudeau was going to wait until Wed Jan 8th (tomorrow) to announce his intention to resign (he said he will officially resign once the Liberals have their leadership convention). However, the calls for his resignation have been coming for weeks and months now. When the Liberal Party members started publicly and boldly telling various media outlets that they want Trudeau to resign after Chrystia Freeland’s very public “f*ck you” resignation from Cabinet, it forced Trudeau into a corner and it was only a matter of time. He’s already survived quite a bit of scandal in the past 9-10 years as PM and his marriage ended to boot (partly as a result of all of the insane hate directed against him and by extension, his then-wife). Moreover, the consistent hate campaign by the far-right in Canada against Trudeau has been ongoing for YEARS, the likes of which haven’t been seen in Canada before. I am sad to see him go, but as the incumbent after almost a full decade in power, it was an uphill battle to start. Trudeau and the Liberals were exactly what we needed after the disaster of Stephen Harper and his Reform-Cons and thank goodness it was the Liberals guiding us through the pandemic. I am concerned that there is no obvious and natural successor to Trudeau as leader a mere 14 days before Trump takes over again down south. Freeland was the supposed contender who Trump hates (she was in charge of dealing with him the first time around), but she’s too closely tied with Trudeau all these years and unfortunately, I don’t think the majority of Canadians will elect a woman, no matter how capable she has proven herself to be (see US for a recent example).
Let’s remember the other reason Trump hates Freeland: Her consistently strong support for Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invaders. Thus, Putin hates her. She’s been banned from Russia for a long time. Note that Trudeau did not bring her to Mar a Lago. Freeland is of Ukrainian heritage; Ukrainians settled the Canadian prairies (in the US, the plains) in large numbers. It’s a big voting bloc. Her mother was involved in writing independent Ukraine’s Constitution. So both Trudeau and Freeland worked closely together to provide whatever Canadian assistance they could. I hope they get credit for that.
We should have a two term limit.
Three terms as country leader is too much for anyone.
With fixed terms, yes, that’s why the US put in a 2-term limit after FDR. However, in Canada’s parliamentary system, terms can be of any length so not sure that’s practical. It could create a real revolving door phenomenon.
One small note that there’s a huge bias in this post–Jan 6 is an American thing, it’s the first day “back to work” for most of Ottawa, and they need to prorogue Parliament until a new leader is elected. Not everything in the world revolves around the US. It wasn’t a “huge choice” to announce today it was the only choice–or else they’d call a non-confidence vote the minute Parliament was back in session and we’d all be headed to the polls before they had a chance to elect a leader. And trust me, no one wants this except the g-damn politicians.
I’m not surprised he resigned, Canada has been changing for a while and kind of becoming Trumpitized, it’s moving more and more to the right due to the housing crisis and immigration issues. Let’s hope for the best. He’ll be fine either way.
There is going to be a caucus meeting on Wednesday. He had to announce Monday.
Lots of things led up to his resignation that have nothing to do with the USA or Trump. He has no support from his own party and MPs which meant, regardless of whether you like him or not, he was not going to be able to hang in there unless he shut everything down and simply stayed in as leader. He might have been able to stay on if the Finance Minister had not quit but he didn’t handle her in the right way. And the NDP was fleeing from him too.
The NDP – Singh – could have been gracious about Trudeau’s accomplishments and also used this move as a way to remind Canadian voters of the NDP role in developing federal dental insurance and pharmacare. Instead Singh released a nasty, entirely political letter and for what? To gain maybe one or two seats nationwide? Badly done.
Canadian here. I’m sure Trudeau is looking forward to not having to deal with Trump again but that is not why he is resigning. He has so many other problems and I’m sure investigations are coming. He is not well liked here, he’s hated really
Well! It’s clear Celebitchy has a lively and well-informed readership in Canada. Let’s all vote, Celebitches – and get others to vote – and please vote strategically. In our household, it’s always ABC: Anything But Conservative. Whatever works.
I agree – it’s lovely to see all the Canadians chiming in. Also ABC! (Sadly I live in a conservative stronghold, which is why I wish we had proportional representation. That’s a topic for another day.)
I’m s bit confused, what was the main issue with Trudeau? Here in Texas is all about immigration, funny enough immigrants yelling that he let in Canada way too many immigrants and also read something in the BBC about a foundation. So far nothing positive from what I’ve read. Also, now that Facebook will let people decide what’s fake news and what’s not heaven help us
Cost of living is very high and there’s a housing crisis. Those things have not helped Trudeau. He’s also been there for nearly 10 years. That length of time for any leader is bound to bring in fatigue.
To stay in, he needed an ally within his party. And they all dropped off as time went on.
He’s been the leader of the liberal party for 10 years. Canada has just had enough. He is doing nothing for our country anymore.
As an aside, I’m confused by comments here who say neoberalism isn’t popular in western democracies? In Germany (as of now still a democracy) certain parties try everything in their power to push a neoliberal agenda and they do so with the help of Elon Musk, tech bros, the Atlas network (Trump!). And ther are very inspired by Argentina/Milei, for instance. They hope for deregulation on economies, a weaker, ineffective state. Social inequality is already very high in Germany and will likely become worse.
I get the feeling that a significant proportion of voters in Canada and France won’t be happy until they get their very own trump lite. France has flirted with neo-facism for a long time but tends to coyly back out at the last minute. I’m baffled why there doesn’t seem to be more anger in Canada about this US 51st state nonsense. Or maybe it’s not being reported. Or maybe it’s just ‘ol Donnie’s ‘quirky sense of humour’. Hilarious.
82% are against it. I think most Canadians try to tune out the news but this state thing is being repeated. Already I am seeing social media start to call people traitors or telling them to pack up and move. Also social media especially Twitter is boosted for right wing stuff.
And while I hate Doug ford, he is pushing back on the Canada as a state thing. The one thing that makes Canadians be Canadian is that they are not American. It’s a core issue
Not sure about France, but in Canada everyone wants a solution to the cost of living crisis. Young people can’t afford an home. It’s out of reach. And Trudeau (or his party) wasn’t really finding an answer. He was in danger because he’s an incumbent that’s been there for 10 years. If he was a conservative (the Canadian version), people would still be tired of him because of the length of time he’s been in office. The UK switched out the conservatives for the Labour Party for the same reason (ie fatigue). And the Labour Party is not right-wing.
Americans don’t have presidents that are allowed to stay past the 8 year mark so I don’t think they really get to experience or know that kind of fatigue.
I think a good portion already have fatigue of the orange menace.
I’m a bit worried tbh. New Zealand voted right wing, so did Sweden and Italy. It’s like a domino effect and SM right now isn’t helping.
Social media and the misinformation echo chambers billionaires have cultivated are so dangerous. I don’t even recognize most of my family any more after they were radicalized by Russian propaganda.
Dual Citizen here (Canadian/American). I have been here since 2012, the Harper years. I am sad to see Trudeau go and think PP is not what this country needs at all. I just signed up to be a liberal and will be voting in the leadership race. I believe Carney may have the best shot for Canada against Trump—Trump against a banker? I also think PP will look awful on the world stage.