At last, our long national nightmare is coming to an end. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he will be stepping down as Liberal leader and prime minister upon the selection of his replacement. The announcement comes in the wake the high profile resignation of former finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, calls from within the Liberal Party that the prime minister was not the right person to lead the party into the next election, and what many Canadians have wished for years.
In his announcement, Trudeau also asked the governor-general to prorogue parliament until March 24.
In his news conference after the prime minister’s announcement, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was in full election mode, trotting out the usual NDP tropes of evil Conservatives cutting everything sacred to the left, and greedy CEOs getting richer while the middle class falls behind. Jagmeet Singh did, however, call for an immediate election, saying that “[Trudeau] let Canadians down,” and “Liberals don’t deserve another chance,” stating that the next Liberal leader will have supported what has caused middle class hardships.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre echoed Jagmeet Singh’s sentiment, stating, “every Liberal MP in power today, and every Liberal leadership contender fighting for the top job, helped Justin Trudeau break the country over the last nine years.” Poilievre went on to say that the real reason why Liberals are keen to move on is because Trudeau is not popular enough to win an election, instead of because Liberal policies that have caused housing prices to skyrocket, the economy to lag, and crime to rage out of control.
Instead of calling an election and taking his impending defeat with class and grace, prime minister Trudeau was first off the sinking ship that is this Liberal government and left his successor to bear the electoral brunt of the prime minister’s failures.
