Canada political crisis deepens, PM Trudeau faces fresh calls for resignation

Toronto (The Uttam Hindu): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced fresh calls for resignation, hours after Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland quit in a surprise move after disagreeing with him over US President-elect Donald Trump's tariff threats. A third of the ruling Liberal Party's MPs have called for a change in leadership in Canada further deepening the political crisis in the country.

On Monday evening, Canadian media outlets reported that Trudeau has not yet decided whether he will continue as Prime Minister or resign. The number of rebel MPs who have sought his ouster has grown to nearly 60 of the 153-strong caucus in the House of Commons. Freeland also stepped down as Canada's Finance Minister, and her resignation marked the first open dissent against Prime Minister Trudeau from within his cabinet threatening his hold on power.

Liberal Party leader Trudeau lags 20 points in polls behind his main rival, Conservative Pierre Poilievre, who has tried three times since September to topple the Trudeau government and force a snap election. "Our country today faces a grave challenge," Freeland said on social media platform X in her resignation letter, pointing to Trump's planned 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports. "For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada," she wrote in her resignation letter.

First elected to Parliament in 2013, former journalist Freeland joined Trudeau's cabinet two years later when the Liberals swept to power, holding key posts, including trade and foreign minister, and leading free trade negotiations with the EU and the United States. Most recently, she had been tasked to help lead Canada's response to moves by the incoming Trump administration. Canada's main trading partner is the United States, with 75 per cent of its exports each year going to its southern neighbour.

In her resignation letter, Freeland said Trudeau wanted to shuffle her to another job, to which she replied: "I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the cabinet." As finance minister, she explained the need to take Trump's tariffs threats "extremely seriously." Warning that it could lead to a "tariff war" with the United States, she said Ottawa must keep its "fiscal powder dry."