When announcing his resignation on Monday, Justin Trudeau indicated that he would remain in office until a successor to the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada was selected.
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The one who has been Prime Minister of Canada since 2015, however, has not specified when the new leader of the party will be appointed.
Could he therefore still be prime minister on March 24 when parliamentary work resumes following the prorogation of parliament?
According to political analyst Emmanuelle Latraverse, Mr. Trudeau left the door open to this possibility.
“Obviously it’s not clear,” she said. We find ourselves with a Prime Minister Trudeau who resigns, who prorogues the House, but it is possible that when work resumes on March 24, it will still be him who is there.
“He has given no indication that he wants the transition to a new leader to happen quickly,” she adds. It’s as if he’s announcing that he’s going to leave, but he’s giving himself the means to stay the same as long as possible.”
The Liberal Party will have to specify how the race will be conducted and its deadline, according to her.
“Mr. Trudeau rather gave the indication that he wanted it to be longer and more rigorous rather than a quick race to have everything resolved before the resumption of work in Ottawa on March 24,” maintains Ms. Latraverse.
-For his part, political analyst Philippe-Vincent Foisy believes that a rigorous race requires time.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing how we’re going to frame this,” he says. What’s good for his or her successor is that it’s not a Kamala Harris scenario. He did not say that the caucus will decide and that it will be this person who will be the candidate.”
“For the party, do we have time to organize ourselves between now and the end of March and have someone, a team, to go to elections fairly quickly? he asks. It’s a question mark.”
For his part, political analyst Marc-André Leclerc agrees that the door is still open, but doubts that it is likely that the one who has been Prime Minister for almost 10 years will still be so when work resumes.
“I agree that he left the door open, but I can’t believe it’s going to happen,” he says. It’s clear that as long as he makes his announcement […] All the people who sit on the National Council of the Liberal Party of Canada are busy this afternoon.”
“Everyone will come with solutions and proposals to win the next electoral campaign,” he adds. But it is clear that on March 24, the Liberals cannot arrive with Justin Trudeau. He opened the door earlier, but this door will be closed.”
According to him, although Justin Trudeau still technically sits in the national caucus as leader, he will not take part in decisions going forward.
“He no longer decides anything,” says Mr. Leclerc. Currently, the officers of the party, the presidency, are going to organize a proper race and I think that we will make sure to have a leader before March 24.”
See the full analysis in the video above
