Canada PM Justin Trudeau ‘likely’ to resign this week: report

Canada’s leader could be about to step down after waning popularity and turmoil within his own party.

Sources within Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s own party have indicated he is likely to resign from the position this week, according to Canadian media reports.

Mr Trudeau, 53, has faced increasing pressure as his popularity dwindled in recent months but he publicly vowed to guide the Liberal Party to October’s election.

Now, The Globe and Mail reports, he is considering stepping down as early as Monday (Canadian time) ahead of a national Liberal Party caucus on Wednesday.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reportedly on the verge or resigning. Picture: Dave Chan/AFP

The Globe cites three anonymous sources with knowledge of internal party matters to report Mr Trudeau was likely to resign after almost a decade as Canadian PM.

It remained unclear if Trudeau would remain in an interim capacity while the party sought new leadership, The Globe reported.

There were similar reports in December after the shock resignation of former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland who wrote that she and Mr Trudeau “found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada”.

Mr Trudeau’s popularity has waned in recent months, with his government narrowly surviving a series of no-confidence votes and critics calling for his resignation.

He has vowed to stay on to guide the Liberals to elections scheduled for October 2025, but has faced further pressure from incoming US president, Donald Trump, who has threatened a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods.

Donald Trump recently hosted Mr Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago, with the pair discussing the incoming administration’s threat to impose tariffs. Picture: X@JustinTrudeau

Ms Freeland quit last month after disagreeing with Mr Trudeau over how to respond to Mr Trump’s apparent plan, in the first open dissent against the Prime Minister within his cabinet.

Later that month, Mr Trudeau announced a major shake-up to his cabinet – changing one-third of his team in a bid to settle the political turmoil.

In November, he travelled to Florida to meet with Mr Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in a bid to head off a trade war.

But since then the president-elect has also landed humiliating blows against Mr Trudeau on social media, repeatedly calling him “governor” of Canada and declaring that the United States’ northern neighbour becoming the 51st US state is a “great idea”.

The Canadian Prime Minister shook up his cabinet, changing one-third of his team as political turmoil threatened his leadership. Picture: Dave Chan/AFP

Mr Trudeau swept to power in 2015, with a mop of dark curly hair and confident swagger, and led the Liberals to two more ballot box victories in 2019 and 2021.

But he now trails his main rival, Conservative Pierre Poilievre, by 20 points in public opinion polls.

Coming late to politics after working as a snowboard instructor, bartender, bouncer and teacher, Mr Trudeau was first elected in 2008 to the House of Commons to represent a working-class Montreal neighbourhood.

In his first two terms as prime minister, he brought in Senate reforms, signed a new trade deal with the US and introduced a carbon tax to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The married father-of-three also legalised cannabis, held a public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and passed legislation permitting medically assisted suicide.