Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said he will resign as soon as his Liberal Party selects a new leader to run in general elections expected later this year.
Calls for Trudeau to resign have been growing for months but became too much to ignore as the Liberals continued to fall further behind the Conservative Party and its leader Pierre Poilievre in polling. Recent polls indicate the centre-right Conservatives would win a majority of seats in the House of Commons if an election were held today.
"If I'm having to fight internal battles, I can't be the best option in that election," Trudeau said in Ottawa this morning.
Parliament was set to return from a break on 27 January, at which time Conservatives were expected to attempt to trigger an election by way of a no-confidence vote. Canada's governor general — at Trudeau's request — extended the break until 24 March.
That break will buy the Liberals time to find a new leader but it will be a tall order for any successor to both unite the party and also connect with Canadians on short notice before an expected spring election.
"There will be confidence votes in March," said Trudeau, whose minority government has been propped up by the New Democratic Party (NDP). The NDP has helped Trudeau survive no-confidence votes in recent months, but on 20 December vowed that it would also bring the government down when it returned to session.
Trudeau was elected as a member of parliament (MP) in 2008, leader of the Liberal Party in 2013, and has been prime minister since 2015 after defeating the then Stephen Harper-led Conservatives.
There is no obvious replacement for Trudeau after deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned last month, citing "costly political gimmicks," unrestrained spending and being at odds over the approach to the "grave challenge" of aggressive US nationalism. US president-elect Donald Trump has threatened a 25pc tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico unless they tighten borders to crack down on drug trafficking and illegal migration into the US.
Trudeau's plan to resign does not change the Conservative party's plans to call for new elections, Poilievre said today.
"Every Liberal MP in power today and every potential leadership contender fighting for the top job helped Justin Trudeau break the country over the last nine years," he said.
If elected, Poilievre plans to cut a number of environmental programs championed by the Liberals, including the carbon tax. The Conservatives support the continued use of oil and gas, exploration for hydrocarbons, and pipeline construction.
The next federal election must occur on or before 25 October this year, according to the electoral calendar.
