UPDATED 11:05 A.M.
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that he will step down as leader of the ruling Liberals after nine years in office but will stay on in his post until the party chooses a replacement.
Trudeau, under heavy pressure from Liberal legislators to quit amid polls showing the party will be crushed at the next election, said at a news conference that parliament would be suspended until March 24.
That means an election is unlikely to be held before May and Trudeau will still be prime minister when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump – who has threatened tariffs that would cripple Canada’s economy – takes office on Jan. 20.
“This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau, 53, took office in November 2015 and won reelection twice, becoming one of Canada’s longest-serving prime ministers.
But his popularity started dipping two years ago amid public anger over high prices and a housing shortage, and his fortunes never recovered.
Polls show the Liberals will badly lose to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October, regardless of who the leader is.
Parliament was due to resume on Jan. 27 and opposition parties had vowed to bring down the government as soon as they could, most likely at the end of March. But if parliament does not return until March 24, the earliest they could present a non-confidence motion would be some time in May.
Trudeau said he had asked Canada’s Governor General, the representative of King Charles in the country, to prorogue parliament and she had granted that request.
Trudeau had until recently been able to fend off Liberal legislators worried about the poor showing in polls and the loss of safe seats in two special elections last year.
But calls for him to step aside have soared since last month, when he tried to demote Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, one of his closest cabinet allies, after she pushed back against his proposals for more spending.
Freeland quit instead and penned a letter accusing Trudeau of “political gimmicks” rather than focusing on what was best for the country.
“Removing me from the equation as the leader who will fight the next election for the Liberal Party should also decrease the level of polarization that we’re seeing right now in the House and in Canadian politics,” Trudeau said.
The Conservatives are led by Pierre Poilievre, a career politician who rose to prominence in early 2022 when he supported truck drivers who took over the center of Ottawa as part of a protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Editing by Caroline Stauffer, Alistair Bell and Deepa Babington)
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OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce on Monday that he intends to step down as leader of the ruling Liberals after nine years in office but he will stay on in his post until the party chooses a replacement, CBC News reported.
Trudeau, under heavy pressure from Liberal legislators to quit amid polls showing the party will be crushed at the next election, is due to hold a press conference at 10:45 a.m. (1545 GMT) on Monday.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trudeau, 53, took office in November 2015 and won reelection twice, becoming one of Canada’s longest-serving prime ministers.
But his popularity started dipping two years ago amid public anger over high prices and a housing shortage, and his fortunes never recovered.
Polls show the Liberals will badly lose to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October, regardless of who the leader is.
Liberal leadership races usually take months to arrange and even if the party speeds up the process, Trudeau will likely not be leaving office any time soon.
This means he will be prime minister on Jan. 20 when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs that would cripple Canada’s economy.
Another worry for the Liberals is the threat by opposition parties to bring down the government soon, which could happen before the leadership race is over. This would leave Trudeau leading the party into the next election.
A no-confidence motion could be proposed as soon as the end of March, and if all parties vote in favor, an election will be triggered.
The Canadian dollar was trading 0.8% higher at 1.4325 to the U.S. dollar, or 69.81 U.S. cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since Dec. 17 at 1.4280. Analysts said that the prospect of greater political clarity helped underpin the currency.
Trudeau had until recently been able to fend off Liberal legislators worried about the polls and the loss of safe seats in two special elections last year.
But calls for him to step aside have soared since last month, when he tried to demote Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, one of his closest cabinet allies, after she pushed back against his proposals for more spending.
Freeland quit instead and penned a letter accusing Trudeau of “political gimmicks” rather than focusing on what was best for the country.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a career politician, rose to prominence in early 2022 when he strongly supported truck drivers who took over the center of Ottawa as part of a protest about COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by David Ljunggren and Alistair Bell)
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