Trudeau says he will become as prime minister for transition

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Ottawa – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his last day in office will depend on how long of a transition his successor needs.

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Trudeau announced on January 6th that he would resign when the liberal leadership race ends, which will happen on Sunday.

Trudeau, who has served as prime minister since 2015, says the time of his departure depends on the needs of the next leader.

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“It will be up to a conversation between the new leader and myself,” he told journalists on Tuesday, after talking about the trade war that was triggered earlier that morning with the United States

“It has to happen reasonably quickly, but there are a lot of things to do in a transition like this, especially at this complicated time in the world.”

Trudeau is preparing to leave the office at a time when the links in Canada-US have hit a new low, with US President Donald Trump, who slaped 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports and repeatedly says he wants Canada to become 51.

The race to replace Trudeau, which has led the Liberal Party since 2013, has been dominated by the question of how each candidate would navigate Trump.

The leading candidates, former central banks Mark Carney and Trudeau’s former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, have promised to return through the dollar-for-dollar duty rates.

In a speech with journalists at an event in Calgary, Carney said, if he became prime minister, the revenue collected from countertops would be set to support workers affected by Trump’s trade taxes.

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While Carney is sitting as experienced in dealing with a crisis, considering her tenure as governor of the central bank in Canada during the 2008 recession and in England under Brexit, Freeland proclaims her ability to negotiate against Trump and refers to how she did when Canada signed a new free trade agreement with US and MEXICO in 2018.

Both of their campaigns released videos Tuesday strongly with Trump.

Philippe Lagassé, who teaches Carleton University and examines parliamentary roles, says that power transitions typically take about two weeks in Canada, although it is mainly valid when there is a change in government.

He added that much depends on the personality of the incoming prime minister and how quickly he or she will take power, which he suggests, has been made more difficult by Trump’s duty.

“I don’t think we’ve seen a comparable situation in modern Canadian history, so it’s remarkable.”

Carney, who is the perceived front runner, has left the door open to call an early election for Parliament’s planned return on March 24 if he was appointed the next liberal leader.

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Expectations for an election call in March have risen steadily when the liberals see their fortunes rise in voting in public opinion after they have poorly subsequently the Conservatives for more than a half.

Trudeau’s exit combined with the threats that Trump sets and the prospect of a new leader seems to have caused some Canadians to consider the liberal party, though Pollsters says it is unclear if the party’s rise will last.

“The last thing we need right now is a choice,” said Lana Payne, national president of Unifor, which is Canada’s largest trade union in the private sector.

“We need someone responsible at the moment.”

She pointed out how Trump has promised additional duty rates for steel and aluminum that began next week, and then mutual tariffs on countries reciprocated before April 2. It’s the same date a Trump-Ordered Trade Study is due to what trade secretary Howard Lutnick says to open the door to even more duties.

“We will be in a situation where we will have to make decisions on a whole lot of things,” says Payne.

“There must be decisions that have been made around how we support Canadians, how we support industries, how we push back in a non-customs way so we need a functioning government.”

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Both the Conservatives and new Democrats say that Trudeau should open parliament again, as the prime minister asked the head of government Mary Simon to suspend until the end of March, while the Left chose their new leader.

The NDP leader Jagmeet Singh repeated it call to Trudeau and opposition leaders on Tuesday and asked for return to parliament to adopt emergency measures.

Canadians must go to the polls by October.

National Post
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