Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is likely to resign as the Liberal Party leader as early as Monday, US broadcaster Fox News reported.
The Mail and Globe reported, citing anonymous sources from Trudeau’s administration, that the prime minister will likely announce his decision this week.
A meeting of all of the Liberal party’s lawmakers is planned for this Wednesday in response to persistent demands that Trudeau step down as party leader.
It’s uncertain if Trudeau will step down as prime minister as well. However, if he resigned as party leader, a contest for the top position would begin, with the next party leader taking over as prime minister.
In Frame: Justin Trudeau
Since Chrystia Freeland resigned as his finance minister on December 16, Trudeau has been under increasing pressure. Freeland criticized Trudeau in a public letter before abruptly resigning.
The public has hardly seen the prime minister since Freeland’s resignation. Trudeau has not made any announcements on his future plans and has spent a large portion of his vacations at a resort in western Canada.
Additionally, the party’s poll prospects are declining amid dull economic growth. The Conservative Party is expanding its lead into an election year, according to a recent Nanos Research survey conducted over the holidays.
Now that they could lose the majority of their 153 seats, the Liberals have started running pre-election campaign ads accusing that the Conservatives would cut social security schemes.
Members of the Liberal Party from the nation’s border provinces told Bloomberg that Trudeau had to make a decision immediately because US President-elect Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian products.
“The country could face instability, notably from an economic threat in the potential of a 25% US tariff on Canadian imports from the incoming administration,” read a letter from party leader Kody Blois, who leads a group of liberals from Canada’s four easternmost provinces.
The founder of Nanos Research, Nik Nanos, told Bloomberg that Trudeau is unlikely to be in a strong position to “negotiate anything” with the next US president after resigning as party leader.
