Why has Canada Deputy PM resigned? Will Justin Trudeau be forced to step down?

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister has resigned, amid increasing tensions with Justin Trudeau. Chrystia Freeland, who also served as the country’s finance minister, stepped down from both posts on Monday (December 16), sending shockwaves through Ottawa.

In her public announcement of her resignation, Freeland said that she and Prime Minister Trudeau have been “at odds about the best path forward for Canada”, highlighting the “grave challenge” posed by United States President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.

Trump, who will return to the White House next month, has vowed to impose a 25 per cent levy on all imported Canadian goods and services. If implemented, the tariffs would hit Canada’s economy hard.

Freeland’s resignation has put Trudeau’s political future in jeopardy, as he faces growing calls to quit.

Let’s take a closer look.

Canada’s finance minister resigns

Chrystia Freeland’s resignation as deputy prime minister and minister of finance came at a crucial moment for the Trudeau government.

She made the announcement hours before she was set to deliver the government’s fall economic statement on Monday afternoon.

Freeland said in her resignation letter that Canada needs to take Trump’s policy of “aggressive economic nationalism” “extremely seriously”.

She said Canada needs to keep its “fiscal powder dry” to deal with the tariffs threatened by the incoming Trump administration in the US.

“That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognise the gravity of the moment,” Freeland, who was Canada’s first female finance minister, added.

She and Trudeau were reportedly at loggerheads over policies proposed by the Canadian PM to tackle the country’s cost-of-living crisis.

This includes sending C$250 cheques to working people earning less than C$150,000 annually sometime in the new year. His plan to provide a temporary tax break on essential goods during the holidays could also have been a sticking point.

As per BBC, Freeland’s office was concerned about the cost of these policies, given Canada’s growing deficit.

Freeland mentioned that Trudeau had asked her to take up another post in his Cabinet, which she has now declined.

She said she plans to continue as a Liberal MP and will run for her seat again in the next election.

“Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end. But how we deal with the threat our country currently faces will define us for a generation, and perhaps longer,” the resignation letter read.

Dominic LeBlanc, a close friend of Trudeau, has taken over as Canada’s finance minister.

Clamour grows for Trudeau’s resignation

Freeland’s resignation has sparked calls for Trudeau to resign, including from within his Liberal Party.

At an emergency Liberal caucus meeting held after Freeland’s exit from Cabinet, several MPs told Trudeau to step down, Canada’s public broadcaster CBC News reported.

“I can say we’re not united. There’s still a number of our members who think we need a change in leadership and I’m one of them,” Liberal Ontario MP Chad Collins told reporters after the caucus meeting.

He called for Trudeau to step aside in order to stop what he called the leader of the opposition Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre’s “Make Canada Great Again” agenda.

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

Helena Jaczek, an MP from Markham-Stouffville in Ontario, also asked Trudeau to resign. “Let’s put it this way - firing the minister of finance who has served you extremely well is not what I’d call a trustworthy move,” she said, as per BBC.

Describing Freeland as a “good friend”, Transport Minister Anita Anand said: “This news has hit me really hard and I’ll reserve further comment until I have time to process it.”

Liberal MP Wayne Long said nearly a third of the 153 sitting Liberal MPs want Trudeau to step down immediately, another third are undecided and the remaining are the PM’s loyalists, reported CBC News.

“He’s messing with his legacy and it’s time to move on,” Long told the public broadcaster. “Canadians are screaming, caucus is vocal — it’s just time, come on.”

Conservative Leader Poilievre called for holding the federal election as soon as possible, claiming that Freeland’s resignation is a sign that Trudeau has “lost control.”

“The Canadian people deserve to choose who should be their next prime minister,” CBC News quoted him as saying.

Éric Grenier, a political analyst at the Writ, said Freeland’s resignation was a “clear rebuke of the prime minister”.

“Freeland was one of Trudeau’s first recruits when he became leader back in 2013. She’s always seemed to be a pretty loyal member of Cabinet,” he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

“[The resignation] is pretty surprising and pretty important. You don’t often see this in Canadian politics. It definitely shows there are lots of problems right now with the government,” Grenier added.

New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party has propped up Trudeau’s minority government, called on Trudeau to resign.

However, he stopped short of promising to bring down the Trudeau government through a vote of non-confidence.

“Justin Trudeau has to go, he has to resign and because of that all options are on the table,” Singh said.

“We’ll look at each vote and we’ll make a decision, but now all options are on the table,” he said, as per CBC News.

Will Trudeau resign?

Trudeau has been facing calls to resign for some time now.

His popularity is sinking. Trudeau’s approval rate has dropped from 63 per cent when he was first elected in 2015 to 28 per cent in June of this year, according to a poll tracker.

Trudeau’s main rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, is 20 points ahead in polls.

The Liberal Party has lost two federal byelections in its safe seats of Toronto and Montreal this summer.

Earlier this year, 25 Liberal Party MPs demanded Trudeau step down to save the party from electoral rout.

The Canadian PM has so far been adamant to stay and lead the party into the next general election, which must be held on or before October.

After Freeland’s exit, some local media hinted the PM might resign, but his office has rejected the reports as “absolutely not accurate.”

Whether Trudeau will bow to the pressure this time and step aside, only time will tell.

With inputs from agencies