Who will replace Trudeau as Canada’s Liberal party leader?

After nine years in power, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would step down and bow before lawmakers alarmed by his Liberal Party’s miserable pre-election results.

Trudeau, the 53-year-old son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, became deeply unpopular with voters over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing, as well as surging immigration.

After his long-awaited and devoted minister, Chrystia Freeland, left the Cabinet last month, he also struggled to recover.

Trudeau announced on Monday that he would remain in charge of the Liberal Party until a new leader is chosen to lead it in the party’s upcoming election, which must take place by late October.

Because all three opposition parties said they intend to use a no-confidence vote against the Liberal party at the first opportunity, leading to an election, the Liberals must elect a new leader before the session resumes on March 24. The new leader might not be in office for very long.

Here’s a look at some of the politicians who could replace Trudeau.

Chrystia Freeland

Freeland, a member of parliament for Toronto, is considered to be the early frontrunner for Trudeau’s replacement. She performs best among liberal politicians before elections because she is seen as a trustworthy and stable alternative to Trudeau, according to polls.

A former journalist, Freeland worked for the Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, and Thomson Reuters. She marked her transition from journalism to politics in 2013, winning a by-election in Toronto’s University-Rosedale riding as a Liberal candidate.

Freeland played a significant role in the negotiations of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) during her tenure as Canada’s finance minister, becoming the first woman to do so.

Trudeau stated to Freeland last month that she could remain the deputy prime minister and the focal point for US-Canada relations, but that he no longer wanted her to serve as the finance minister.

Freeland could no longer serve as a minister because she no longer believed Trudeau would win her over, according to a source close to Freeland’s press release to the Associated Press. Due to the fact that they were not permitted to discuss the matter in public, the official added that Freeland would meet with her colleagues this week and talk about the coming steps.

Freeland stated that she disagreed with Trudeau regarding how to respond to Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods as one of the reasons for resigning.

After she resigned, Trump called Freeland “totally toxic” and “not at all conducive to making deals”.

Far-right conspiracy theories claim that the World Economic Forum (WEF) has skewed goals in order to influence global policies, but Freeland, 56, serves on its board.

Trump has stated that he wants the US to reconsider its strategy in the wake of Trump’s comments that she is also of Ukrainian descent and has a steadfast support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.

Mark Carney

He has been providing economic advice to the Liberal government after serving as the Bank of Canada’s former governor.

Carney, 59, became the first foreigner to head the Bank of England since it was established in 1694 with the designation of “first foreigner governor.” After Canada recovered from the financial crisis in 2008 more quickly than many other nations, the appointment of a Canadian was met with bipartisan support in the United Kingdom. Along the way, he gained a reputation as a strict regulator.

Carney is credited with helping Canada escape the worst effects of the global economic crisis in 2008 and with guiding the UK through Brexit as a highly educated economist with Wall Street experience.

Carney lacks political experience, but she has long been interested in running for president and becoming prime minister. If Carney were to win the party leadership, the current chair of Brookfield Asset Management would need to win a seat in parliament.

Dominic LeBlanc

Seen as a close ally of Trudeau, LeBlanc was appointed finance minister after Freeland’s departure.

He has served as a member of parliament for Beausejour in New Brunswick since 2000 and is a politician and lawyer in Canada.

He served as the minister of fisheries, oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard from 2016 to 2018, and as the minister of intergovernmental affairs, northern affairs, and internal trade from 2018 to 2019. Prior to his appointment as minister of intergovernmental affairs in 2020, he was the minister of finance.

LeBlanc, 57, recently joined the prime minister at a dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the US president-elect’s Florida estate. Prior to the trip, LeBlanc’s office stated in a statement that they would highlight “the adverse effects that the imposition of 25-percent tariffs would have on both Canada and the United States.

LeBlanc praised the prime minister after his resignation announcement that he had been a babysitter for Trudeau when he was a child.

He stated on X that serving alongside you in the Commons and in your Cabinet was the “honor of a lifetime.”

Melanie Joly

Joly, the country’s current foreign affairs minister, has a reputation abroad and will be in charge of handling Trump-related matters when he assumes office.

Joly, 45, has a steadfast support for Trudeau and traveled to Mar-a-Lago with him to meet Trump.

Before becoming minister of foreign affairs, Joly served as the minister of Canadian heritage from 2015 to 2018, minister of tourism, official languages, and la Francophonie from 2018 to 2019, and minister of economic development from 2019 to 2021.

Palestinian Canadians and human rights activists sued Joly over the export of military equipment to Israel, alleging that it violated both Canadian and international law.

The lawsuit requested that the Canadian government stop issuing export authorizations for Israeli-made military equipment and technology. Since the case was filed, no public information has been released.

Francois-Philippe Champagne

Champagne, 54, has been the minister of innovation, science and industry since 2021. Before that, Champagne held several key ministerial roles. He served as the minister of foreign affairs from 2019 to 2021, the minister of infrastructure and communities from 2018 to 2018, and the minister of international trade from 2017 to 2018.

Trump was warned in December that Champagne’s proposed tariffs could start a trade war between China and Champagne.

“If you say no to Canada, you’re basically saying yes to China when it comes to strategic supply chains”, Champagne said on the POLITICO Tech podcast. “I don’t think that’s what the American people would want”.

Champagne noted in the podcast that the fact that Canada and the US share one of the world’s largest trading partners and have common objectives is a key determinant of their future.

Would the Liberals be able to avoid defeat with a new leader?

No matter who the leader is, polls consistently predict that the Liberals will lose. But the scale of the defeat could be tempered if&nbsp, Trudeau&nbsp, is not in charge.

In the latest poll by Nanos, a Canadian polling firm, the Liberals trail the opposition Conservatives 47 percent to 21 percent.

“Trudeau’s announcement might help the Liberals in the polls in the short run and, once a new leader is selected, things could improve further at least for a little while but that would not be so hard because, right now, they’re so low in the polls”, said Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

“Moreover, because Trudeau waited so long to announce his resignation, this will leave little time to his successor and the party to prepare for early elections”, Beland told The AP.

The next government, according to many analysts, will be led by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. Poilievre, for years the party’s go-to attack dog, is a firebrand populist who blamed Canada’s cost of living crisis on Trudeau.

Source: Aljazeera