Under mounting pressure from his party, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he will step down and end his nine-year term as leader.
Trudeau said he will remain in office until his Liberal Party can choose a new leader, and Parliament will be prorogued – or suspended – until March 24.
“This country deserves a real choice in the upcoming elections, and it has become clear to me that if I have to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best choice in those elections,” he said during a press conference on Monday.
Trudeau's personal unpopularity among Canadians is becoming an increasing drag on his party's fortunes ahead of the federal election later this year.
“Last night, at dinner, I told my children about the decision I am sharing with you today,” he said at the news conference in Ottawa.
He added: “I intend to resign from my position as party leader, as prime minister, after the party chooses its next leader through a vigorous, competitive, nationwide process.”
Liberal Party Chairman Satchit Mehra said a party board meeting will be held this week to begin the process of selecting a new leader.
“Liberals across the country are extremely grateful to Justin Trudeau for more than a decade of leadership for our party and the country,” he added in a statement.
“As prime minister, his vision has delivered transformative progress for Canadians,” he said, citing programs his government has implemented such as the Canada Child Benefit, creating dental care and pharmacare coverage for certain drugs.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said: “Nothing has changed” after Trudeau's resignation.
“Every Liberal MP and leadership contender has supported everything Trudeau has done for 9 years, and now they want to deceive voters by swapping another Liberal face to continue stealing Canadians for 4 more years, just like Justin,” Poilievre wrote on X.
Trudeau, 53, has faced increasing calls to resign from within his Liberal Party, which escalated in December when Deputy Prime Minister and longtime ally Chrystia Freeland suddenly resigned.
Freeland was cited in his public resignation letter US President-elect Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs on Canadian goodsHe accused Trudeau of not doing enough to confront the “serious challenge” posed by Trump's proposals.
Trump promised a 25 per cent tax on imported Canadian goods — which economists have warned would significantly hurt the Canadian economy — unless the country takes steps to bolster security on their shared border.
Trudeau said Monday he had hoped Freeland would continue as deputy prime minister, “but she chose otherwise.”
Canada has since announced that it will implement it Extensive new security measures Along the country's US border in response to the threat.
In an online post, Trump claimed that pressure over tariffs led to Trudeau's resignation and repeated his quip that Canada should become “the 51st country.”
“If Canada merged with the United States, there would be no tariffs, taxes would be dramatically reduced, and they would be completely safe from the threat of Russian and Chinese ships that constantly surround them,” he wrote.
Since 2019, the Liberal Party has governed as a minority party.
After Freeland's resignation, Trudeau lost the support of parties that had previously helped keep the Liberals in power — the left-leaning New Democrats, who had a support agreement with the Liberals, and the Quebec nationalist party, the Bloc Quebecois.
The Conservatives, the largest opposition party, have maintained a significant lead of more than 10% over the Liberals in opinion polls for months – suggesting that if a general election were held today the Liberals could suffer a major defeat.
The Liberals will now choose a new leader to lead the party to the next election, which must be held on or before October 20.
A senior government official told the BBC that the race was an open contest, and that the Prime Minister's Office would remain out of the process entirely, leaving it up to Liberal Party members to decide their future.
Speaking to reporters, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet suggested calling a snap election once the Liberals choose their new leader.
Trudeau is the son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who dominated the country's politics in the 1970s and 1980s.
The younger Trudeau became prime minister after the Liberal Party won a landslide in 2015 amid a promise to usher in a new progressive era of “sunny ways.”
His record includes a commitment to gender equality in his cabinet, which remains 50% women; Progress on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada; impose a national carbon tax; Implementation of a tax-free child benefit for families; And the legalization of recreational cannabis.
National Assembly of First Nations Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak praised Trudeau's record on Indigenous issues after his resignation, saying in a statement that he “has taken meaningful steps to address issues that matter to First Nations.”
“While there is still a lot of work to do, these actions have laid a foundation for future governments to build on.”
Clouds have begun to hang over Trudeau's government in recent years, which has weathered a series of often self-inflicted scandals, including controversy over a deal with a Canadian company facing corruption charges and photos of the prime minister wearing brown makeup.
Vaccine mandates and other restrictions were also met with backlash from some Canadians, leading to Freedom Caravan truck protests in early 2022. Trudeau eventually used unprecedented emergency powers to remove protesters.
As Canada began to emerge from the pandemic, housing and food prices rose dramatically, and his government backed away from ambitious immigration targets when public services began to show strain.
By late 2024, Trudeau's approval rating was at an all-time low — with just 22 per cent of Canadians saying they thought he was doing a good job. According to one poll tracker.
In Ottawa, a small group of demonstrators danced outside the Parliament building to celebrate his resignation.
However, one bystander said he thought things were fine under Trudeau.
“I'm a carpenter,” Hamis Gamarra, from British Columbia, told the BBC. “I mind my own business, I get my paycheck, I pay the bills. It's been OK.”
Another Canadian, Maryse Cassivi, said it feels like the end of an era. When asked if she felt any hints of sadness, she replied: “No.”
“This is the right thing.”
