Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may resign within days, media say

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could announce his resignation within days, according to media reports.

He is considering stepping down as leader of the ruling Liberal Party, which would also have ended his nine-year tenure as prime minister.

Last month, its finance minister quit, citing political disagreements, such as how to handle Donald Trump’s threat to impose US tariffs on Canadian goods.

Trudeau’s popularity has also fallen among voters, with polls suggesting his party is on course for a general election defeat this year.

U Globe and Mail reports that he could announce his intention to quit before meeting his party caucus on Wednesday, to avoid the perception that his own MPs forced him to.

His sources said it was unclear whether Trudeau would leave immediately or stay on as prime minister until a new leader was chosen.

And they insisted that he had yet to make a final decision on his future.

Whoever takes over will have to lead the party through an election campaign while also navigating a possible trade war with the United States.

The election is due to be held before October, but a change in Liberal Party leadership could increase calls for a snap vote in the coming months.

Trudeau’s departure will end a defining era in Canadian politics.

In 2015, he unexpectedly defeated his party in power, winning a campaign that started with them in third place.

The fresh young leader, 43 years old at the time, promised a new kind of politics centered on an open immigration policy, tax increases on the rich and fighting climate change.

But his first term was haunted by scandals. In more recent years, he had battled declining popularity as frustration grew with the cost of living and his own style of governing.

More than a dozen of his own MPs have asked him to resign, while polls suggest that two-thirds of voters disapprove.

Just 26% of respondents in a September Ipsos poll said Trudeau was their first choice for prime minister, putting him 19 points behind Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

History is not on Trudeau’s side either, with only two prime ministers ever serving four consecutive terms.

Poilievre rose to the top of his party in 2022 with a promise to cut taxes, tackle inflation and protect individual freedoms.

The 45-year-old has also rallied support behind the Freedom Convoy truckers protesting against the Covid mandates – a blockade that has brought Canadian cities, including Ottawa, to a standstill.

Canada’s next prime minister will have to face the threat of tariffs from incoming US President Donald Trump.

He has promised to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods if the country does not secure its common border to the flow of irregular migrants and illegal drugs.

The “grave challenge” that this was done was referred to in the letter of resignation of the Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, who resigned hours before she was supposed to provide her annual budget.

She said Trudeau had informed her that he no longer wanted her to be his government’s top economic adviser.