Canadian PM Trudeau in hot seat as cabinet member resigns

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau began the week fighting for his job, with all corners of parliament calling on him to resign. On Monday, finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned in protest. The finance minister is second in command behind the prime minister, and Freeland had previously been known as a staunch Trudeau ally. Freeland quit merely hours before she was scheduled to present the national finances and upcoming fiscal year plan. In her letter to Trudeau, Freeland referenced disagreements stretching back to the fall. She also wrote that Trudeau told her last Friday to move out of the finance minister position and into a different cabinet position.

“Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet,” Freeland wrote.

Trudeau promoted public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc to replace Freeland as finance minister. LeBlanc said he and Trudeau would look for common ground with Trump and would address the cost of living in Canada.

Where is Trudeau? The prime minister did not issue any written statements on Monday but briefly spoke at a liberal caucus meeting in the evening. In streamed remarks, he acknowledged some recent difficulty but called for Canadians to rally behind him, contrasting his plans with those of the Conservative Party.

Who in Parliament wants him out? Starting in October, conservative members of Parliament issued a call for Trudeau to begin a resignation process. MPs from different parties revived those calls on Monday. Speaking to Canadian outlet True North, Liberal MP Francis Drouin said he had defended Trudeau in the past, but now he didn’t see a way forward without him leaving. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Trudeau’s leadership was out of control. On Monday, Poilievre called for a new election. MP Yves-François Blanchet, the leader of Bloc Québécois or the Quebec nationalist party, likewise called for an election and asked Trudeau to dissolve the government in the new year. 

What sparked this? Canadian leaders have been at odds for weeks following President-elect Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs up to 25% on Canadian goods. In her resignation letter, Freeland criticized Trump’s policy as aggressive economic nationalism. Last month, Trump said he would impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China on his first day in office. He said the move would force those countries to address illegal immigration and drug smuggling into the United States. Trudeau traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Nov. 30 for what both leaders then called a productive conversation. Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial Premiers met on Monday to discuss the tariffs. They were also waiting on Freeland’s speech about the federal government’s financial outlook and response to Trump.