Justin Trudeau had a special relationship with Canadians, who had known him since his birth, on Christmas Day 1971, as the son of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
That relationship helped him get his Dad's old job. In his first federal election as Liberal leader in 2015, his Conservative opponents warned Canadians that he was a lightweight, a celebrity with good hair but no relevant work experience. But Trudeau had grown up in public, and brought a welcome measure of glamor to the world of Canadian politics. The voters liked him, they felt like they knew him, and they decided to give him a chance, through the central government.
It was a remarkable victory, unprecedented in Canadian politics. Trudeau, a former high school teacher with an unlikely resume—managed to take his Liberal Party from third place in 2011, its worst showing in history, for the first time with a strong mandate, an echo of the “Trudeaumania” that gripped the country when Dad won government in -1968.
Justin's election was a return to his father's vision of Canada as a bilingual, multicultural northern welfare state. But instead of his father's intellectual Jesuit precision, he brought flamboyance, openness, and fun. Trudeau promised Canadians “sunnier roads” after a decade of pro-business Conservative government, and successfully pursued a progressive agenda, winning two more elections. But after nine tumultuous years as Canada's leader, he was forced to announce his resignation on Monday to avoid a rebellion by Liberal MPs, who face a certain defeat in an election due in October.
Trudeau will remain in office until a successor is chosen. But his stubborn refusal to recognize that his time is up has left him, his party, and his country in dire straits, with Donald Trump and Elon Musk harassing him and threatening to make Canada the 51st country. He will serve as a lame duck in the first months of Trump's administration while his party chooses a leader to replace Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who has held a double-digit lead in the polls for more than two years.
Trudeau is leaving his country in peril, which means Canadians are in no mood to celebrate his achievements as Prime Minister. However, there are things he does.
He enjoyed a long honeymoon, briefly became a world news darling, and won support for reducing child poverty, raising taxes on the rich, and cutting taxes on the poor. He legalized marijuana, introduced a carbon tax to reduce pollution, and worked to improve the lives of Aboriginal Canadians, whose harsh living conditions are a constant source of national shame.
Trudeau successfully managed the first presidency of Donald J. Trump, carefully negotiating a trade deal like the one Trump inherited, and led the country into the COVID-19 pandemic, putting money in people's pockets to keep them locked up until the situation worsened. it has passed.
But if Trudeau has been able to manage problems well, he has always produced them. He broke the rules with an ill-conceived holiday on the Aga Khan's private island, took a disastrous trip to India that was billed as a royal tour, was revealed to have worn blackface more times than he cares to say, lost two ministers and more. top aides in the scandal of an attempt to sidestep the prosecution of SNC Lavalin, a corrupt engineering company.
However, what made him a problem was the cost of living after the pandemic. Like Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, Emmanuel Macron, and all the other incumbents in the West, Trudeau's poll numbers went underwater with the people's domestic budget.
Economic growth was slower than in the US, and his mistreatment of immigrants made matters worse. Canada has long prided itself on its careful and successful integration of newcomers, as Trudeau's father Pierre made Canada the first country to introduce official multiculturalism. But to inject energy into the economy after the pandemic, Trudeau recklessly opened the gates too wide, allowing the number of temporary foreign workers and international students to increase what was already one of the worst housing problems in the world.
His doom became clear in June when he lost an election in the normally safe Toronto seat, and it became even clearer when he lost another in Montreal in September. Liberal MPs told him to stop. He ignored them, shuffled his cabinet, tried to cut the holiday tax and collected $250 checks for all working Canadians, but nothing he did would change the numbers.
Then came December. After Trump threatened to impose a crippling 25% tariff on all Canadian imports, Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago, hoping his charm would win the day. Trump responded by repeatedly harassing him, threatening to annex Canada. With little support at home, Trudeau was unable to find a way to respond effectively.
Read more: Donald Trump on What His Second Term Will Look Like
Canadians had had enough of him, and he wasn't getting the message. His growing number of disgruntled ex-ministers felt a sense of urgency I agree. Trudeau “has come to a place now where he believes what he's doing is good for the country, no matter what else, which I think is very scary and problematic,” one told me.
Finally, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who saved the day during trade talks with Trump years ago, pressed the issue. He resigned on December 16 amid disagreements over how to handle the incoming Trump Administration, which has created a crisis in Trudeau's legitimacy.
For years, Trudeau has been telling anyone who will listen that he should continue to fight the next election against Poilievre, whose right-wing policies and aggressive attacks are outside the Canadian political culture.
Trudeau despises Poilievre, seeing him as a threat to the Canada built by his father. He wants to fight with her. And he is a fighter. Towering 6 ft. 2 in. Trudeau first won the Liberal Party leadership in 2013 after proving his resilience with a surprise 3-1 victory in a charity boxing match.
“I'm a fighter,” said Monday. “Every bone in my body keeps telling me to fight because I care so much about Canadians.”
But Trudeau had to admit it was time to throw in the towel. “It has become clear to me that due to internal wars, I will not be the leader of the Liberal Party in the next election,” he said.
That was an understatement. On Wednesday, his members of Parliament should have wanted out. The polls have been so bad for so long that the Liberals need a new leader. Canadians need someone to manage relations with the US, which look more strained than at any time since the War of 1812.
But the voters clearly want someone else to do that.
Source link
