Justin Trudeau resigns latest: PM says ‘a snowball’s chance in hell’ Canada will join US as he rejects Trump threat – UK Times

“Throughout the course of my career, any success I have personally achieved has been because of their support and with their encouragement,” Trudeau said.

At a press conference on Monday, Trudeau cited “internal battles” within the Liberal Party that meant he “cannot be the best option” in the next election.

Former deputy prime minister and minister of finance Chrystia Freeland threw Trudeau’s government into chaos when she abruptly resigned from the cabinet last month, just hours before she was due to deliver the country’s first economic update since the U.S. election.

Canada’s Prime Minister was forced to resign off the cuff after his notes blew away seconds before his planned resignation announcement on Monday.

“I’ll wing it,” Justin Trudeau said, as he watched his notes fly from the lectern standing outside his residence in Ottawa.

Trudeau announced he would be stepping down as prime minister, and leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, after nearly ten years in power.

A row had broken out inside Trudeau’s party after US President-elect Donald Trump announced a proposal to introduce 25 percent tariffs on Canada.

“Throughout the course of my career, any success I have personally achieved has been because of their support and with their encouragement,” Trudeau said.

Facing low approval ratings in part due to the cost of living crisis, signs were mounting that Canadians had lost faith in the Liberal Party, which Trudeau has led as prime minister since 2015.

But internal confidence plummeted in mid-December, when Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister and head of finance, unexpectedly resigned citing disagreements over the handling of Trump’s proposed 25 percent tariffs on the country – an issue that could damage the economy.

“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide, competitive process,” Trudeau said on Monday.

Now, the Liberal Party will decide on its next leader by holding a contest to decide who will succeed Trudeau. Until they do so, Trudeau will remain prime minister.

Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney is considering entering the race to succeed Justin Trudeau as leader of Canada’s Liberal Party.

Mr Carney – who headed up Britain’s central bank between 2013 and 2020 – said he was mooting the move following the resignation of Mr Trudeau after nine years as prime minister amid a mounting loss of support from both within his party and across Canada.

In a statement to the Financial Times newspaper, Mr Carney said: “I’ll be considering this decision closely with my family over the coming days.”

The Canadian, 59, would be one of a number of contenders for the role, alongside Mr Trudeau’s former deputy Chrystia Freeland and transport minister Anita Anand.

Canada was, it was widely said, plunged into crisis after Justin Trudeau resigned as prime minister and Liberal Party leader on the first working day after the holiday break. But this is not quite true.

Canadian politics was already in crisis. It might be more accurate to present Trudeau’s resignation as offering the only way out of the crisis that had culminated last month in the summary departure of his deputy and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, and the loss of support from the last party in parliament, still shoring up his minority government.

Freeland’s resignation had laid bare a sharp policy split at the apex of the government over public spending, while the threat by Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, to propose a no-confidence vote could have toppled a government already barely able to govern.