Robert Nelly,
The reasons for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigning have now been made irrelevant, since he stepped down because of his drop in support. However, the EKOS polling firm, which gave Trudeau a lousy 19.4% level of support only three days after the traitor Chystia Freeland resigned, now gives Trudeau 32%, only 1.9% less than his rival Pierre Pollievre. If the election were called today, it would be a toss-up. It's any man's game. Other polls are also showing Trudeau is nearly tied with Pollievre. Furthermore, Donald Trump has backed away from his threats so there is no need to send Freeland over there, which was the original reason that Trudeau gave for demoting this unappreciative, backstabbing ingrate.
Actually, all of the Liberal leadership candidates are campaigning Right-of-Centre, and absolutely none will continue Trudeau's legacy, which is another reason that Trudeau should place no faith in any of these candidates. Specifically, Freeland stated in her resignation letter that she opposed Trudeau's promise of $250 cheques to working Canadians who earned $150,000 or less in 2023. Freeland referred to the proposal as a "costly political gimmick" and argued that the Canadian government should "[keep] our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war." Furthermore, leadership contender and banker MarK Carney from the corporate world will not be any more left than Freeland. Trudeau has a right to simply dismiss the current race since no one is really promising to carry his mantle and legacy. If he carries through with his resignation, all of the many social programs that he has advanced (dental care, child care) will risk being cut by the next Liberal government. There is no Trudeauesque alternative, and he simply has the right to delay the leadership race until such a candidate presents itself, to re-open the nomination process.
Some may question Trudeau's ability to cancel his own "scheduled" resignation. First of all in Canadian law there is no such thing as a "scheduled" resignation. Rather, you are either Prime Minister or you are not. If you are Prime Minister it is because the Governor General believes that the majority of Parliament has given you their support on confidence votes. While Trudeau has told the Governor General he will be resigning once a new Liberal Leader is in place, he can theoretically renege on this promise. Then, if he is powerful enough politically in his party, he can attempt to have his henchman in the party cancel the current Leadership election. Or, he can go to the Governor General now and ask for Parliament to be dissolved and for an election to be called. The Governor General is under no obligation to wait until a new Liberal Leader is elected, because the Prime Minister still has the prerogative to dissolve parliament and call election when he so wishes, and Trudeau is still Prime Minister. If such an election were to occur immediately, quite possibly the Liberal executive could vote to stall the Liberal leadership vote, as their constitution allows for that to happen, and thus the date could be stalled until after the election is finished. Naturally, if Trudeau is re-elected for a fourth time, that Liberal Leadership race can be delayed even further, another 2 or 4 years, while Trudeau as the current Leader of the Liberal Party (or is he Interim Leader) remains Prime Minister.
Trudeau has given only one reason for his resigning, and that is because of the infighting. Sure, if he cancelled the Liberal Leadership Race, he would face a lot of backlash, but if he dissolves parliament first and calls an election, all of those treacherous Liberal MPs would be forced to start campaigning in their riding and not spend time humiliating Trudeau. Even if he decides to simply delay the Leadership race vote so that he can be in Parliament when it resumes seating, he could allow himself to lose the confidence of the House in a vote so that an election can be called. It's really up to him, if he can stand up to his ungrateful bullies, those Liberal MPs who owe their jobs to Justin Trudeau exclusively and conclusively.
Also, even if Trudeau were to win less seats than Pierre Pollievre in a minority government situation, there would be no obligation for Trudeau to resign if the Governor General were to let him first try to show if he can continue with the confidence of Parliament. That is, if Trudeau can make a deal with the NDP, Greens or Bloc should Pollievre receive more seats than Trudeau in a minority government, he can hold on to power. This is because the NDP, Greens and Bloc tend to be left-of-centre or centrist and thus naturally gravitate to Trudeau. While the Conservatives cannot depend on any right-leaning parties like Joe Clark would have in 1979 with the Social Credit Party's support. Ask yourself, why has Trudeau now lead the longest (or second longest) minority government in history? It's because firstly the left/centre parties don't want to risk putting Pollievre into power, and secondly because they know that Trudeau will cream them as he has won 3 elections in a row. Also because Trudeau knows how to work with the other parties to give them what they want in exchange for their vote.
Therefore, Trudeau has a path forward if he wants to stay on and lead the country some more. He should delay or cancel the Leadership race, and call an election if necessary, now or after parliament resumes.
Robert Nelly is a writer from North Bay, Ontario, Canada
February. 19, 2025