Nine Years after his election as Canadian prime minister was hailed as infusion of young blood in Canada’s politics, PM Justin Trudeau’s position looks very shaky. A prominent news outlet in Canada has said that Trudeau may quit as early as Monday (January 6). If not, said the outlet, he will surely quit before a key party meeting scheduled to take place on Wednesday. But why is Trudeau being cornered to quit? Read on to know more.
Disaffection Within Own Party
When he took office in 2015, Trudeau was being looked upon as a person who would take Liberal Party to new heights. It did seem so for a while. But the blue-eyed boy of the Liberal Party is facing major opposition from the ranks now.
The calls from within the party for Trudeau to quit became shriller especially after now former finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from Trudeau’s Cabinet.
The timing of her resignation was symbolic as well. She quit just hours after she was to give statement on Canada’s economy.
In her letter to Trudeau, she mentioned that the PM told her that he did not want her to continue as finance minister and offered her another post.
“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. For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” she said in the letter.
Decline In Popularity
The Liberal Party, led by PM Trudeau has seen a serious nosedive in its popularity among voters. Almost all opinion polls say that Conservative Party is favoured by more people who have been surveyed.
The Angus Reid Survey, which was released on Friday, showed that Liberal Party enjoyed support from just 13 per cent of the respondents.
A survey conducted by Nanos Research revealed on December 31 that Conservative Party had a whopping 26-point lead over Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
Foreign Policy Under Trudeau
The Free Press Journal hasn’t independently verified if Canadian voters are unhappy with Trudeau over foreign policy but the Canadian PM has certainly ruffled feathers in India by alleging repeatedly that ‘agents’ of Indian government were involved in killing of India-designated Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canada has a sizeable population of Indian origin and the mood in India is likely to be reflected in Canada.
US President-Elect Donald Trump has also repeatedly mocked Trudeau by calling him ‘Governor Trudeau’ and has regarded Canada as a province of the US. While Trudeau did not give any effective reply to Trump’s social media posts, Canada’s mention as a province of the US under the PM Trudeau’s watch is likely not to have gone well with Canadian voters.
