As it happened: Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau resigns as Liberal Party leader

The opposition New Democratic Party had propped up Trudeau’s Liberal Party for years. Now NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says that “it doesn’t matter who the next Liberal is. They’ve let you down. They do not deserve another chance.”

Singh says that “as soon as there is a confidence vote, we will be voting against the government.”

All three main opposition parties have said they plan to topple the Liberal Party in a no-confidence vote when Parliament resumes in late March.

The president of the Liberal Party says he will call a national board meeting this week to begin the “nationwide democratic process of selecting a new leader of the party.”

Sachit Mehra also says Liberals across Canada are “immensely grateful” to Trudeau for his service. Mehra says Trudeau rebuilt the party and delivered progress including $10-a-day child care, a national climate plan and universal pharmacare.

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President-elect Donald Trump is continuing his trolling of Canada as he reacts to Trudeau’s announcement.

Trump in a social media post has again called Canada the “51st state.” He also incorrectly claimed that Trudeau resigned because Canada relies on subsidies from the United States to stay afloat.

Here’s a collection of Trudeau photos chosen by AP editors.

One analyst says Trudeau had no choice but to step aside.

“Most of his caucus wanted him gone,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. “Trudeau’s resignation had an inevitability about it since the party lost by-elections in Toronto and Montreal strongholds, beginning in the summer.”

Freeland, the finance minister who resigned last month and sent discussion about a Trudeau resignation into overdrive, has thanked Trudeau for his years of service and wished him well.

Trudeau in his resignation comments called her “an incredible political partner” and said he had hoped she would continue as his deputy prime minister. Journalists asked what happened between them and he replied that “I not someone who is in the habit of sharing private conversations.”

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Trudeau took power in 2015 after a decade of Conservative Party rule. He was praised early on for returning Canada to its liberal past, and reminded some of his popular father, Pierre Trudeau, who led Canada for almost 16 years.

Justin Trudeau spoke up for immigration and diversity and appointed women to Cabinet posts in foreign affairs, defense and finance. He also legalized cannabis.

But Canadians from the right and left criticized his efforts to strike a balance between economic growth and environmental protection. And the rising costs of food and housing added to Trudeau’s growing unpopularity.

He faced the biggest test of his political career after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, long one of his most powerful and loyal ministers, resigned from the Cabinet last month.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre says in a taped message posted on X that “Canadians desperate to turn the page on this dark chapter in our history might be relieved today that Justin Trudeau is finally leaving.”

And Poilievre takes aim at the Liberal Party: “But what has really changed? Every Liberal MP in power today and every potential Liberal leadership contender fighting for the top job helped Justin Trudeau break the country over the last nine years.”

One person likely to seek power in the Liberal Party after Trudeau is Mark Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada and later the Bank of England. Carney has long been interested in entering politics and becoming prime minister, and Trudeau tried to recruit him to join his government.

Carney in a post on X has thanked Trudeau for his contributions and sacrifices. He adds: “Wishing you the best for your next chapters.”

All three main opposition parties in Canada have said they plan to topple the Liberal Party in a no-confidence vote when Parliament resumes in late March.

Trudeau in some of his final comments shared his thoughts on opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre: “Pierre Poilievre’s vision for this country is not the right one for Canadians. Stopping the fight against climate change doesn’t make sense. Backing off on the values and strength in diversity that Canada has always worked to pull itself on is not the right path for the country. Attacking journalists, the CBC, institutions, that is not what Canadians need in this moment.”

Trudeau says Poilievre has a “very small vision” for Canada.

The press conference is over.

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Trudeau says Canada deserves a Parliament that functions. He says it has been “entirely seized” by what he calls obstruction and a total lack of productivity. He says this is the longest-serving minority government.

Trudeau is speaking outdoors in weather well below freezing: 10 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 12 Celsius, in Ottawa. He continues to take questions.

He had been the second-youngest prime minister in Canada’s history, and he had been planning to run for a fourth term in next year’s election even as discontent in his party grew. He says that “I have always been driven by my love for Canada.” Now he is taking questions.

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Trudeau says he has asked the president of his Liberal Party to begin the process to select a new leader.

Trudeau adds: “If I am having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election” to come.

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Trudeau says: “I am a fighter .... The fact is, despite best efforts to work through it, Parliament has been paralyzed for months.” He says a new session of Parliament is needed.

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Trudeau has emerged and started speaking. Papers blew off his podium before he came out. “We are at a critical moment in the world,” he says. Now he switches to French.

Another official familiar with the matter says Parliament will be suspended until March 24. It had been due to resume Jan. 27. The timing will allow for a Liberal Party leadership race. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

We are live with video from Ottawa, waiting for Trudeau to come out and address the media.

It is not immediately clear when nationwide elections will be held to pick a permanent replacement.

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The official says Trudeau will stay on as prime minister until a new leader of the Liberal Party is chosen. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak ahead of an official announcement Monday.

Facing growing calls to resign, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to make an announcement about his political future.

Trudeau — who has become deeply unpopular over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing — has kept publicly mum in recent weeks, despite intensifying pressure for him to step down after the abrupt resignation of his finance minister on Dec. 16. The prime minister has now returned to Ottawa after the Christmas holidays.

“His long silence following this political drama speaks volumes about the weakness of his current position,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

▶ Read more about the latest on Trudeau’s political future