Why did Justin Trudeau resign? Canadians are in no doubt

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Like father, like son?

Canada, like its southern neighbour, enjoys political dynasties more than Australia. And there is no dynasty larger than the Trudeaus, Canada’s Kennedys.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation. His father, Pierre Trudeau (left), was elected prime minister in 1968 and served until 1984. Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre (right) appears likely to win the next election.Credit: Illustration: Dionne Gain

Pierre Trudeau, prime minister between 1968-79 and 1980-84, defined much of modern Canada and its progressive-left Liberal Party. The Charter of Rights, fighting Quebec separatism, and, in particular, being “not America” on the global stage.

His son Justin, famously destined to be PM since being anointed by then-US president Richard Nixon when he met Trudeau Snr in 1972, brought the Liberal Party back from political extinction in a single election in 2015, rekindling the “Trudeaumania” his father inspired in the ’60s and ’70s. Those of us with a different political outlook have always been perplexed by his status as a progressive icon despite the incidents of dressing up and blackface, or his ethically compromised removal of his attorney-general (the first indigenous woman in the role).

While Trudeau’s global fans might be surprised by his demise, no one in Canada is. Though he won a majority in his first election in 2015, his popularity waned relatively quickly; he ran minority governments in 2019 and 2021, and won fewer votes than the Conservative opposition on both those occasions.

Like his father, Justin has been effectively forced to resign by his own party, fearful of polls showing widespread displeasure and anger with both the prime minister personally and his party. He leaves office with Canada’s existential economic relationship with the US at its highest risk in decades, with relative competitiveness with the US and comparative investment falling, and widespread household economic pain.

Unlike Australia, a Canadian Liberal caucus cannot remove him from office – this is the result of a year of internal pressure and terrible polls. Trudeau intensely fought to keep his job and made it clear in his departing press conference that his leaving was about the lack of internal support, not an acceptance of public discontent, his lack of popularity or electoral prospects, or Canadians’ desire for change after nearly a decade in office. Departing in the year he takes the Chair of the G7 is a particularly bitter pill for a Canadian PM, and Trudeau in particular.

The final trigger was his attempt last month to effectively sack his long-serving loyal deputy and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, in an attempt to save his position. But the bigger issue looming over Canada more than any other is the re-election of Donald Trump, and his threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs. Canada sends over three-quarters of its exports to the US, so if implemented this will lead to significant job losses and economic pain across Canada to a degree no other country will experience.

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