It’s time for Justin Trudeau to resign

By Star Editorial Board

Dec. 16, 2024

With a federal election on the horizon and polls suggesting Trudeau’s Liberals are toast, leaving is the right thing for Justin Trudeau to do.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland speak at a press conference to announce the new trade pact with Canada, the United States, and Mexico in Ottawa, on Oct. 1, 2018. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in a surprise announcement on Dec. 16, 2024, quit over disagreements with Trudeau on Canada’s response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats. PATRICK DOYLE AFP via Getty Images

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There’s nothing extraordinary about tension between a prime minister and his ministers. Nothing particularly unusual about disagreements between the Prime Minister’s Office and the governing party’s caucus. Such friction can even be productive, a sign of health. But when, at a moment of looming national crisis and uncertainty, discord descends into public chaos — when, for instance, a finance minister is pushed to resign on the day of a crucial planned fiscal update — that is a sign that the prime minister is no longer able to provide the leadership Canada needs and, for the sake of the country, should resign.  

The details are by now well known. On the eve of a scheduled fiscal update, Justin Trudeau reportedly told Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland that he intended to shuffle her. Understandably, she took this as a signal that she had lost his confidence, not least amid reports that Trudeau was working to install former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney in her role, an apparent political hail Mary. Freeland resigned from cabinet. This, just hours after it was reported that another of Trudeau’s most capable ministers, Sean Fraser, was planning to do the same and mere weeks after Trudeau had suppressed, if only temporarily, a caucus mutiny. 

In her resignation letter, Freeland explained that she and Trudeau had been arguing for weeks about the government’s plan to distribute $250 cheques to Canadians. She called the policy a “gimmick,” arguing we should be more parsimonious as Donald Trump threatens to throw our economy into turmoil. We agree. But a dubious policy, concocted in a moment of political desperation, is par for the political course, worthy of criticism but hardly fatal. What cannot be forgiven, however, is the mismanagement, the chaos, the endlessly distracting internal dysfunction — in short, the failure of leadership — in a moment when our country is profoundly challenged, when our national interests require from our government unity and discipline.

Perhaps the most telling line in Freeland’s letter is when she writes that Canadians “know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are focused on ourselves.”

This is more than a policy dispute or the normal give and take between a PMO ready to spend and a finance minister protecting the public purse. It’s about whether this has become an executive consumed by its struggle to survive when the country needs leadership focused on the national interest. 

And the country needs leadership. The Donald Trump presidency and the dog-eat-dog, winner-take-all approach to globalization the U.S. president-elect espouses will be a test for our country. Should we bend to Trump or take him on? It’s an important question and the stakes could hardly be higher. Nor is Trump the only urgent challenge we face. Look at the affordability crisis that has left many in despair, deepened distrust in government and created the conditions for the sort of political populism that is threatening democracy around the world. Look at the crumbling will to meaningfully address the threat of climate change. Look at our lagging productivity or the dilapidated state of our immigration system or the hate and division at home fuelled by a faraway war. The list goes on.

To confront these challenges, we need a prime minister who can build consensus or something like it. One who can reconcile diverse views — in cabinet, in caucus, in Parliament, across the country and with other like-minded nations. Does Justin Trudeau really believe that he, who can’t seem to build consensus even among his loyal soldiers, is the right person for the task? Does he not see that he has become a distraction from the very work he says he’s staying on to complete?

Of course, a Liberal leadership race would be its own distraction. It, too, would divert attention from where it’s most needed. But at least it would potentially allow for a contest of ideas, refocusing the party and the national conversation on issues of public interest rather than on internal Liberal dysfunction. It would at least provide a chance in the twilight of this government to achieve the needed focus and strategic discipline that seem out of reach for Trudeau.

Leaving is also the right thing to do with a federal election on the horizon. Polls suggest Trudeau’s Liberals are toast. If an election were held today, Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives would almost certainly waltz to victory, their policies unspoken or untested. We need a contest of competing visions, not a referendum on an increasingly unpopular prime minister.   

Trudeau need not walk away in shame. Every politician has his or her best-before date. In our hyper-metabolized world, that lifespan seems to be getting ever shorter. Trudeau has led his party to three election wins, served as prime minister for nine years. He rejuvenated the Liberal party at a time when many believed it was dead. His government has raised millions of Canadians out of poverty with its Canada Child Benefit, built the foundations of much-needed and long-overdue national pharmacare and daycare programs, took meaningful action on climate change after years of reckless and embarrassing neglect, and acted quickly and boldly to keep individuals and businesses afloat during the pandemic.

No doubt, in important respects, Trudeau’s government has fallen short. But he has also built a record with much to be proud of. All that is tarnished every day he holds on to power, seemingly more concerned with his own survival than with the national interest. For his legacy, his party and his country, he should walk away.

It’s time for Justin Trudeau to resign

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Chrystia Freeland greeted with standing ovation before ‘sombre’ Liberal caucus meeting

The former deputy prime minister and finance minister netted a mixed reaction from her caucus colleagues when she revealed Monday that she was leaving Justin Trudeau’s front bench.

Dec. 16, 2024

By Raisa PatelOttawa Bureau, and Mark RamzyOttawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Liberal MPs swept into a hastily-convened meeting Monday night to air their grievances over former finance minister Chrystia Freeland’s shock departure from cabinet, a move that renewed calls inside an already fractured caucus for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign.

Caucus sources who spoke to the Star on the condition they not be named said an emotional Freeland received a standing ovation as she entered the room, but characterized the rest of the meeting as “sombre” once the prime minister arrived.

As one MP put it: “On a surreal day, we had a very awkward ending.”

That day began when Freeland announced her exit from Trudeau’s front bench early Monday, hours before she was set to table her fall budget update.

In a letter posted on X, Freeland, who also served as deputy prime minister, said Trudeau on Friday informed her that he “no longer” wanted her to serve as finance minister and wrote that he had offered her another post instead.

“To be effective, a minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence. In making your decision, you made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence and possess the authority that comes with it,” Freeland wrote.

She said that she and the prime minister had recently found themselves “at odds about the best path forward for Canada” and that the only way to combat incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda was to do away with “costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford.”

Sources said Trudeau faced questions about his decision to move Freeland and that a handful of MPs, including Etobicoke Centre MP Yvan Baker, called for him to step down.

Two MPs said that some of their caucus colleagues who spoke during the meeting and called for the prime minister to step aside were not among the MPs who previously did the same during an earlier caucus revolt in October. The sources said Trudeau spoke about the need for caucus to be “united” and to win the “highest number of seats possible” in the next federal campaign.

But Freeland’s announcement, which she only conveyed to the prime minister Monday morning, left her fellow caucus colleagues reeling.

Heading into Monday evening’s meeting, Labrador MP Yvonne Jones said Freeland’s departure marked a “huge loss for Canadians at this time” and that she felt, based on Freeland’s letter, that the former minister wasn’t given the “liberty” she needed to fulfil her duties.

Earlier in the day, Treasury Board President and Transport Minister Anita Anand appeared on the brink of tears shortly after Freeland’s announcement.

“I’ll just say that Chrystia Freeland is a good friend, someone I work with very closely,” Anand said. “This news has hit me really hard, and I’ll reserve further comment until I have time to process it.”

Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who said Monday he also intends to leave cabinet and won’t seek re-election for family reasons, and Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon, described Freeland as a respected friend.

Several Liberal MPs expressed surprise and disappointment at the news, with one characterizing Freeland’s exit as a “devastating blow” for Trudeau, who earlier this fall survived a challenge from dozens of MPs who called for his resignation.

Saint John MP Wayne Long, who has called on Trudeau to resign before, told the Star he hoped that Freeland’s move “opens the door to some cabinet ministers speaking up.”

“How much more can the PM endure before doing the right thing and stepping down?” he said.

Glengarry—Prescott—Russell MP Francis Drouin told CBC earlier on Monday he doesn’t see a way out for the prime minister after Freeland’s resignation.

“I think he needs to go.”

Montreal MP Anthony Housefather and former Trudeau minister Helena Jaczek both told CTV that the prime minister should step aside.

“If the prime minister remains, I believe he is the ballot question. Every Canadian before they ask anything else will be saying, ‘do I want Justin Trudeau to stay prime minister or not?’” Housefather said. “I believe the prime minister has passed that shelf life … we need to have a different leader with a different vision for the Liberal Party to be viable for the next election.”

Ottawa South MP David McGuinty, however, told reporters not to “underestimate” both the Liberal Party of Canada and the prime minister.

After Monday’s caucus meeting, Health Minister Mark Holland hesitated when asked about his own future in Trudeau’s cabinet.

“There’s a lot to take in today, so at this moment I’m not prepared to say anything,” Holland said, later adding that he was here “for the long run.”

Ruby Sahota, the Liberal caucus whip, said no one in the meeting called for the prime minister to step down, despite numerous reports of the contrary from her colleagues.

Etobicoke-Lakeshore MP James Maloney also said Trudeau maintains the confidence of his caucus, though Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MP Chad Collins said that the caucus was “not united.”

“There is still a number of our members who feel we need a change in leadership. I’m one of those,” he told reporters.

“I think the only path forward for us is to choose a new leader and to present a new plan to Canadians with a new vision.”

With files from Alex Ballingall, Tonda MacCharles and Ryan Tumilty

Raisa Patel is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @R_SPatel.

Mark Ramzy is a federal politics reporter in the Toronto Star’s Parliament Hill Bureau. Reach him via email: mramzy@thestar.ca

Freeland gets warm greeting before Liberal caucus meeting