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Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigns after nine years in power
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at his lowest in the polls, announced his resignation on Monday after weeks of political crisis in the country, recently aggravated by economic threats from Donald Trump. Nearly ten years after coming to power, Justin Trudeau, 53, was under pressure from the opposition but also from many figures in his party, worried about the looming legislative elections. “I intend to resign from my post as party leader and Prime Minister once the party will have chosen his next leader”, he declared in the capital Ottawa in front of the press, visibly moved. The next leader of the liberal party (center-left) will automatically become the new Canadian Prime Minister and during this time, Parliament is suspended until March 24. The process of selecting a new leader usually takes several months, which means that Mr. Trudeau should therefore still be Prime Minister on January 20, when Donald Trump takes office. Shortly after the announcement of Justin Trudeau’s resignation, the American president-elect said that Canada should “merge” with the United States, a remark he has made several times recently. While the White House greeted a “faithful friend of the United States”.- Chaos -In the country no one really seems surprised: “I have the impression that it’s a bit of a relief for him because he had a lot of pressure on shoulders,” said Annette to AFP Sousa, resident of Ottawa. Rob Gwett of Toronto, would have preferred that Justin Trudeau “trigger an election” and judges that he should have left a long time ago “because of the scandals”. If he had brought a wind of hope when he came to power , Justin Trudeau today suffers from a low popularity rating, being seen as responsible in particular for high inflation but also for the housing and public services crisis. And in this tense context, the declarations of Donald Trump after his election came to add fuel to the fire: the Republican wants to impose customs duties of 25% on his neighbors as soon as he returns to power. A threat which caused tensions and resulted in mid-December in the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, against his background of disagreement with Justin Trudeau on how to manage this issue. The current political context is “highly unusual” with a change of leader just a few months before an election, Lori Turnbull, professor at the University, commented to AFP Dalhousie.Many challenges await his successor from Mr. Trudeau, experts estimate since the Liberals are behind by more than 20 points in the polls against the Conservatives with legislative elections scheduled for no later than October 2025. “It’s a cause lost”, says André Lamoureux, specialist in political science at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). “No one is in a position today in the Liberal Party to recreate a craze, a movement of support.” – “Relief” -The Liberals “want to deceive voters by putting on another face to continue to scam Canadians”, denounced Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservatives, on sought his path: amateur boxer, snowboard instructor, English and French teacher…Perceived in his early days as a modern, feminist, progressive Prime Minister, concerned about environmental issues and in turn triggering a “Trudeaumania”, he signed during Donald Trump’s first term has a new agreement with Mexico and the United States. But also made Canada the second country in the world to legalize cannabis, established medical assistance in dying, a carbon tax and strongly invested in social programs during these three mandates.amc-amp/tib/vla
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