Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation following tensions with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, likely bringing an end to nearly a decade of left-wing policymaking from the United States' northern neighbor.
Trudeau at a Monday press conference said he is resigning immediately as leader of the Liberal Party but staying on as prime minister while the party picks a replacement to serve until the next election scheduled for October. Opposition parties on both the Left and Right have been pushing for an election as soon as possible, but Trudeau complicated the situation by proroguing Parliament until March 24, a move that prevents an election until then.
Canada's Conservative Party, which is led by Washington Free Beacon 2024 Man of the Year Pierre Poilievre, is expected to trounce Trudeau's Liberals in the election, with the latest Canadian Broadcasting Corporation poll finding that the Conservatives have opened up a stunning 24-point lead over the Liberals. If the polls are accurate, the election will give the Conservatives a massive majority in Parliament, and Poilievre will become prime minister.
Trudeau has advanced left-wing policy goals since he took office in 2015, instituting a federal carbon tax, trumpeting his "feminist" and "progressive" beliefs, and invoking a never-before-used 1988 law to grant himself more power and crack down on protesters who opposed his severe COVID-19 vaccine mandates. He has also faced extensive scandals, including a revelation that he repeatedly wore blackface.
The prime minister's resignation comes three weeks after his deputy, Chrystia Freeland, unexpectedly resigned in mid-December, sparking the calls for Trudeau to step down. Freeland reportedly disagreed with Trudeau on dealing with Trump's threat of instituting a tariff on Canadian goods.
Days before, the prime minister called out the United States because it "voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president," which he claimed is an example of how "women's rights and women's progress [are] under attack, overtly and subtly."
Trump in December made headlines for jokingly describing the prime minister as "Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada."