Trudeau Resigns: Canada Faces Political Shake-Up

Depanjali Roy | 10 January 2025
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Canada is one of the huge countries in North America, land of multicultural people and different languages. This is not needed to mention that, recently relations between Canada and India got worse focusing on the Murder of a Sikh activist in Canada. Before resolving this chaos, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation on January 6, 2025. It was very shocking for most Canadians to hear this news, however, some people found dancing in front of the parliament after the announcement of Trudeau’s stepping down.  

Justin Trudeau, now 53, is the eldest son of Canada’s former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who died in the year of 2000. Trudeau joined politics after having different jobs like snowboard instructor, bartender, bouncer and teacher. From 2014, he joined the Liberal Party and came to power in 2015. He had made some major changes during his rule. Justin Trudeau made some reforms in the Senate, introduced carbon tax to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, and signed trade deals with the USA. When Mr. Trudeau became Prime Minister, he was popular with young people and the middle class. His government made big changes, like forming Canada’s first gender-balanced cabinet. He also introduced child tax benefits, cut middle-class taxes, and took steps to fight climate change.

After Donald Trump became U.S. President, his tough policies affected Canada. One policy was a 25% tariff on Canadian imports, which led Canada’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, to resign. Losing her support, Prime Minister Trudeau also stepped down on January 6, 2025. In response, Trump arrogantly suggested on social media that Canada should become the "51st state" of the U.S. The quote was- 

“If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them,” Trump wrote. “Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!”

Although Trump’s policy is not the only reason for Trudeau to resign but many others in Canada. After 2019 his popularity was going down because Trudeau was not delivering his promises to its people. It happened in 2017, when the US government announced crackdown on migrants, at that point Mr. Trudeau welcomed those who were fleeing persecution, terror & war … regardless of your faith”. But after some time, the irregular rush of migrants made him restrict the USA- Canada border for the asylum seekers. Housing and grocery prices rose for new communities, fueling anti-immigrant feelings. In 2015, Trudeau also promised to follow the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) advice on addressing abuse of Indigenous children at residential schools. Again, he commissioned a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) across Canada and later acknowledged the inquiry’s finding that the crisis constituted “genocide.” However, neither of these commitments were fulfilled during his period. Shockingly, he did exactly the opposite of their well-being. That includes purchasing a contentious oil pipeline project despite staunch opposition from Indigenous communities, in 2018. If that’s not enough, in 2020, he ordered another pipeline through an unceded indigenous territory, which hampers their right of clear water. As a result, the indigenous communities started to protest, which were later taken down by the security forces with Trudeau’s order. 

After the end of Justin Trudeau era, mixed reactions are observed. After focusing on all the above information, it is obvious that, Mr. Trudeau was not prudent towards his promises and decisions. At first, he wanted to comfort and gain trust of the middle class, migrants/immigrants and indigenous people, but later he was not able to serve what he had promised. As the outcome, no communities are happy, housing and groceries are high at price and there is a high possibility that a next leader of Canada will be from the Conservative party. 

Many reports say Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, could be the next prime minister. Known for his blunt words, he called NDP leader Jagmeet Singh a “sellout” and Trudeau “weak” and a “wacko,” which got him removed from the House of Commons in April 2024. Some compare him to Trump, and polls show him leading as Trudeau’s support falls to 22 percent. The Liberal Party now needs a new candidate for the October election to stay in power.

Canada is facing a tough political and economic situation. Inflation and slow growth have frustrated people, while discrimination has risen in the once multicultural country. Many blame the influx of migrants and poor policies. Though Trudeau’s government struggled, the future depends on the next leader and decisions.

Depanjali Roy is the Chief of Staff at Centre for Governance Studies (CGS)

Views in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect CGS policy.



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