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Canada's Trudeau reshuffles his Cabinet as resignation calls mount and new election threat looms

[December 21, 2024] By ROB GILLIES

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's chances of staying on in power have become more tenuous after the opposition party that backed his government for years announced it will vote no confidence in the government when Parliament resumes.

An embattled Trudeau reshuffled his Cabinet on Friday — but whether he will step aside in the coming days or weeks remains an open question.

Trudeau did not address his future or take questions after he left the meeting with his new Cabinet. But Trudeau said his government is preparing for Donald Trump and his threat to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian products.

“In exactly one month the new president will inaugurated and we are preparing Canada to face that,” Trudeau said in his first remarks to reporters since his finance minister quit.

“Whatever the U.S. administration may do, that is our priority, and that is that we’re working on and we have a lot of work to do.”

But Trudeau is facing rising discontent over his leadership, and the abrupt departure of his finance minister on Monday could be something he can’t recover from.

“The prime minister has simply asked for some time to reflect on his own future,” said David McGuinty, the new Public Safety Minister.

Rachel Bendayan, the official languages minister, said Trudeau “told us he had a difficult choice to make."

The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada.

Trump keeps calling Trudeau the governor of the 51st state and has threatened to impose sweeping tariffs if Canada does not stem what he calls a flow of migrants and drugs in the United States — even though far fewer of each cross into the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has also threatened.

“We have in the next 60 days an existential threat for the Canadian economy, for people that could lose their jobs. The unemployment rate could double. We need to focus on that,” said Marc Miller, the immigration minister and a close friend of Trudeau's.

“I think he’s the best to lead us in a very difficult situation. We can’t be in a position where the government has no ability to fight back."

Parliament is now shut for the holidays until late next month, but the leftist New Democratic Party said Friday it would trigger a vote of no confidence in Trudeau after lawmakers reconvene on Jan. 27.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on during a cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, on Friday, Dec.20, 2024.(Sean Kilpatrick /The Canadian Press via AP)

Because Trudeau’s Liberals do not hold an outright majority in Parliament, they have for years depended on the support of the NDP to pass legislation and stay in power. But that support has vanished — NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has called on Trudeau to resign — and he made clear Friday the NDP will vote to bring down the government.

“No matter who is leading the Liberal Party, this government’s time is up. We will put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons,” Singh said in letter released just before the Cabinet shuffle.

The Liberals could delay Parliament’s return. Trudeau could decide not to run in the next year’s election and allow for a party leadership race.

Liberal Rob Oliphant became the latest lawmaker to call for the prime minister to step aside, saying there should be a “robust, open leadership contest.”

Trudeau, who has led the country for nearly a decade, has become widely unpopular in recent years over a wide range of issues, including the high cost of living and rising inflation.

There is no mechanism for Trudeau’s party to force him out in the short term. He could say he will step aside when a new party leader is chosen, or his Liberal party could be forced from power by a “no confidence” vote in Parliament that would trigger an election that would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said Canada needs an immediate election and requires a prime minister who can face Trump from a position of strength.

“We cannot have a chaotic clown show running our government into the ground,” he said.

Concerns about Trudeau’s leadership were exacerbated Monday when Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, resigned from the Cabinet. Freeland was highly critical of Trudeau’s handling of the economy in the face of steep tariffs threatened by Trump.

Shortly before Freeland announced her decision, the housing minister also quit.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said Friday's Cabinet reshuffle was necessary because of recent departures but said for many Canadians “it might simply appear as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

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