Justin Trudeau says he will step down as Canada’s prime minister

• Justin Trudeau, 53, announced that he’s stepping down as the leader of Canadian’s Liberal Party.
• The party will choose a new leader. Once that happens, Trudeau will step down as prime minister.
• Trudeau has served since 2015 but faced repeated calls to step down in recent weeks.

Justin Trudeau on Monday announced that he would step down as prime minister of Canada once his party chooses a new leader.

“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 at a press conference in Ottawa.

The Canadian leader said that he would step down as Canada’s Liberal Party, and that he would cease to be prime minister once his party selects a new leader “through a robust, nationwide, competitive process.”

Trudeau, 53, has been Canada’s prime minister since 2015. His nine-year-long tenure as premier is coming to an abrupt end following weeks of turmoil within Trudeau’s own party, the Liberal Party.

He faced repeated calls from party colleagues to step down after the Liberal Party lost three by-elections last year. In December, Trudeau’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, announced her sudden resignation from his cabinet.

Freeland, who was also the finance minister, said Trudeau had offered her another cabinet position, but she decided to step down because it was “the only honest and viable path for me.” She had clashed with Trudeau over his push for increased spending and how Canada should handle the incoming Trump administration.

In November, President-elect Donald Trump said he planned to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico.

Since then, Trump has continued to taunt Trudeau by referring to him as Canada’s “governor” and has joked about making Canada the 51st US state.

“The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau,” Trump said of Freeland’s resignation in a Truth Social post last month.

Shortly after Freeland’s resignation, opposition politician and New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh said his party would bring a vote of no confidence against Trudeau when parliament sat again in January.

Singh’s party entered into a confidence-and-supply agreement with Trudeau’s minority government in March 2022, but withdrew from it in September.

“I called for Justin Trudeau to resign, and he should,” Singh wrote in an open letter on December 20.

Canada’s next general election must be held by October 2025.