Justin Trudeau Poised To Quit

OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau is poised to resign as the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, a move that adds confusion to chaos in Ottawa.

The three-term prime minister arrived home from a Christmas ski holiday to an open revolt in his caucus unleashed by the sudden resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Dec. 16.

The prime minister will announce the news at 10:45 a.m. Monday outside his official home at Rideau Cottage. It is expected that he will remain in office until a new Liberal leader is chosen. The resignation marks a dismal finale for a political career that once saw Trudeau as a global celebrity nearly akin to former President Barack Obama or, decades before, Trudeau’s father Pierre.

Trudeau’s announcement unleashes a fury of domestic uncertainties amidst growing anxiety about Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The president-elect has said that his Day 1 to-do list includes slapping Canada with 25 percent tariffs.

Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly traveled to Florida on Dec. 27 to meet Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick and Interior Department nominee Doug Burgum — a follow-up to the late-November dinner between the prime minister and Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

While the news ends speculation about Trudeau’s status after a year of churning discontent and cratering opinion polls, debate is open on whether, like President Joe Biden, he’s hobbled his party by botching his exit.

Canadians will go to the polls in 2025 in a federal election that could come whenever opposition parties move to topple the Liberal minority government once Parliament returns.

Trudeau led his party for 11 years, launching it from third-party status to majority government in 2015. Who will replace him — and when — top a list of unknowns that includes existential questions about the party’s future status.

The Liberal constitution will determine the party's next steps — and the next prime minister. Party procedure nerds are gearing up for tussles over the proper path forward.

Some want the Liberal caucus to pick a successor. Others passionately oppose that concept. Normal rules call for a months-long contest that allows candidates time to gather signatures and sign up new members.

Trudeau’s pending exit comes as Canada takes over the G7 presidency for 2025. As prime minister, he was scheduled to host the leaders’ summit scheduled for June in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. He instead joins a line of depleted counterparts that includes former U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.