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Right after Trump threatened to impose high tariffs (25%) on all goods from Canada until Canada stems the flow of illegal aliens and drugs entering America from the Canadian side of the border, panic ensued north of the border, and it has only escalated into pandemonium on both the provincial and national levels. Now Trudeau is faced with a crisis from his own government. Even the Toronto Star editorial board stated that “it’s time for Justin Trudeau to resign,” and the UK’s Telegraph didn’t mince words in its headline: “Donald Trump may just have toppled Justin Trudeau’s government.”
Trudeau’s Deputy Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland abruptly resigned from the cabinet, merely days before she was to deliver a fiscal update. She also relinquished her position as deputy prime minister. Hours later, Dominic LeBlanc was Trudeau’s pick to replace Freeland as finance minister.
Freeland posted on X her formal letter to Trudeau. It showcases a clash in strategy and policy in the face of Trump’s tariff threat, and her grievance regarding no longer having Trudeau’s confidence to do her job:
On the heels of Freeland’s resignation came another shock for Trudeau:
The news seemed to catch Housing Minister Sean Fraser off guard Monday morning when he was asked about it during a press conference announcing his own resignation from cabinet.
Between July and now, six Liberal cabinet ministers have announced they won’t be running again.
Provincial politicians are no less unsettled over Trump’s threat. Ontario Progressive Conservative premier Doug Ford has threatened to shut down energy exports to the U.S. over Trump’s tariff threat, and got pushback:
Actually, it’s three premiers who do not support Doug Ford’s threat: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Quebec Premier François Legault, and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Andrew Furey.
The federal government’s reaction to the provinces was to downplay the premiers’ response to Trump’s tariffs. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc warned: “One should be careful not to confuse the odd public comment, with what is a clear desire to work together with the Government of Canada…This is an important moment for the whole country.”
Ford also spoke to Democrat Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Democrat New York Governor Kathy Hochul, saying “they fully understood where I was coming from.”
Other side meetings that excluded Prime Minister Trudeau:
According to a new Léger poll, most Canadians agree with Trump on the border issue, while they lack confidence in Trudeau on ability to “successfully handle the new U.S. president and his tariff proposals.”
Conservative Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre pointed fingers in the right direction from the start, stating of Trudeau:
“He’s lost control of our borders, he’s lost control of immigration, he’s lost control of spending, and with that erratic performance, we now see that he’s lost control of himself…No wonder foreign leaders believe they can walk all over him, they see him as a weak, incompetent leader who does not even have the support of his own caucus.”
Poilievre is now seen as best leader to deal with Trump according to an Ipsos poll, as Trudeau scrambles to regain control of his own government, let alone Canada and Trump. A cabinet shuffle is expected soon with a puzzling new player: the unelected Mark Carney, former chief of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England.
Even loudmouthed NDP leader and hypocrite Jagmeet Singh, who propped up Trudeau in the House of Commons to ensure the passing of every major bill and shield Trudeau from no-confidence motions, is now calling for Trudeau’s resignation. Others doing the same are Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, along with other politicians and the public.
On Monday night, Liberal MP’s from all over the country convened on Parliament Hill for an emergency caucus meeting in the face of “renewed calls from some members of his party to resign.”
Trudeau is expected by many to resign. If he does, it’s uncertain who will replace him. If he doesn’t, a no-confidence motion may be introduced in late January when parliamentarians resume after the holidays. In this scenario, he’s lost his Jagmeet Singh prop and the government will most likely fall. Otherwise, Canada is stuck with him until the October 2025 elections.