by John Hayward
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been fending off no-confidence votes and calls for his resignation for months, found his position increasingly perilous on Monday following the resignation of his deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Chrystia Freeland.
Freeland, long seen as one of Trudeau’s most stalwart supporters, shocked the Canadian political scene by abruptly resigning on Monday. She said Trudeau wanted her to give up her post as finance minister and accept another Cabinet position, but she felt resigning completely was the only “honest and viable path” she could take.
Freeland and Trudeau were feuding about fiscal policy, particularly Trudeau’s mad rush to spend money in a bid to shore up his collapsing popularity with voters. In her resignation letter, Freeland dismissed Trudeau’s spending binge as a haphazard collection of “costly political gimmicks” that Canada could not afford in the face of tariff threats from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Freeland’s missive to Trudeau was a letter of resignation in more than one sense, as she seemed resigned to the Liberal government getting wiped out in the next election.
“Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end. But how we deal with the threat our country faces will define us for a generation, and perhaps longer,” she wrote, chiseling Trudeau’s political tombstone alongside her own.
Trudeau’s other ministers professed their surprise at Freeland’s sudden and heated resignation, after years of serving as the prime minister’s steady right hand. The sense of shock running through the administration made the Liberal Party’s allies even more nervous.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), said on Monday night that it was time for Trudeau to go.
“I’m calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. He has to go. Right now Canadians are struggling with the cost of living. I hear it everywhere I go. People cannot find a home that they can afford. They can’t buy their groceries,” Singh said.
“And on top of that, we have Trump threatening tariffs at 25%, which put hundreds and thousands of Canadian jobs at risk. And instead of focusing on these issues, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are focused on themselves. They’re fighting themselves instead of fighting for Canadians. And for that reason today I’m calling on Justin Trudeau to resign. He has to go,” he said.
Support from Singh and his NDP has been vital to keeping Trudeau in office through several attempts by the Conservative Party to take him down with a confidence vote, most recently on December 9.
Singh said on Monday that “all options” are now on the table, potentially including NDP withdrawing its support if the Conservatives try to push Trudeau out of office again.
Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet bluntly stated on Monday that “Trudeau’s government is over.” He suggested Trudeau should seek “dissolution of the Parliament” and trigger new elections by the beginning of 2025, if not sooner.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre sounded on Monday like he might be considering another confidence vote. Trudeau will probably be saved by the bell, as the House of Commons is set to adjourn for the rest of the year on Tuesday, but the prime minster’s respite may not last for long beyond the holiday break.
“Justin Trudeau has lost control and yet he clings to power,” Poilievre said after Freeland resigned. “We cannot accept this kind of chaos, division, weakness while we’re staring down the barrel of a 25 per cent tariff from our biggest trading partner and closest ally.
“What we are seeing is the government of Canada spiraling out of control before our eyes,” he said.
“Eighty percent of Canadians have lost confidence in this prime minister. So why is Jagmeet Singh making the entire country wait for him to get his pension? That is the question today,” Poilievre said, taunting the NDP leader for playing coy about whether he would save Trudeau from another confidence vote.
Poilievre sounded like he was gearing up for another run at Trudeau even before Freeland resigned. Last week, he called Trudeau “weak, woke, wacko, and wasteful.”
“He has destroyed our economy, he’s dividing our country, he is a threat to our future. We have to get him out of office,” Poilievre said.
“This guy is a radical extremist. Most of all Justin Trudeau is a diagnosable narcissist. He will tear down the country. He’ll destroy his own party, all to preserve and embolden his ego,” he said.