Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce his resignation as the leader of the Liberal Party, said local media on Sunday. It is unclear when he will announce his resignation exactly, but it is expected anytime before a key national caucus meeting on Wednesday.
According to The Globe and Mail that cited three sources, it remains unclear if Trudeau will leave immediately or stay on as prime minister till a new leader is elected.
This decision is expected amid a loss of confidence in Trudeau’s leadership. The ruling Liberals are expected to lose power and his own legislators are urging the Canadian PM to step down and let someone else take over.
The Liberals are staring at defeat in more than nine years in office, over voter fatigue, and discontentment over high prices and a housing crisis.
Last month, as per Canadian media, more than 50 Liberal MPs from Ontario, held a call and decided that Trudeau had to step down. A Trudeau loyalist, Chandra Arya, said that there is no alternative but a leadership change.
In December, Canadian finance minister Chrystia Freeland quit amid a policy dispute. Apart from that all the opposition parties said they would unite to bring down the minority Liberal government. Trudeau had then, however, made it clear that he has no plans of stepping down.
Trudeau had taken over as the Liberal leader in 2013 amid a deep crisis in the party that reduced it to third place in the House of Commons for the first time. Liberals are expected to badly lose in an election that must be held by late October.
Chrystia Freeland, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, and former central bank governor Mark Carney are expected to be contenders for the top job.
(With Reuters inputs)