As myFM broke Monday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned as Liberal Leader in an announcement at Rideau Cottage. During his address, he stated that his intention is to stay on as Prime Minister until the party chooses a new leader. We reached out to Sam Routley, he is a PHD Candidate of Political Sciences at the University of Western Ontario in London, who says you could see this coming.
Trudeau met with Governor General Mary Simon Monday morning and asked that Parliament be prorogued until March 24th. Routley says there were things that led up to this decision in his opinion but the resignation of the once Deputy Prime Minster might have been the final nail.
Moving forward, he says the discretion and authority over how this leadership race actually goes belongs to the Liberal party’s national council and they are to meet very soon to sketch that out.
He was asked in terms ripple effects in particular the border tariff discussion and president-elect Trump, Routley says it will be a slippery slope to maneuver through and Donald Trump probably is enjoying what he’s seeing north of the border, and the timing of this could have been better.
What about potential candidates to take on the Liberal party leadership? Routley did say he’s heard some rumblings.
Trudeau has led the Liberals since 2013 and served as Prime Minister since 2015.
Written by: C. Soares