Justin Trudeau announced Monday that he was also stepping down as leader of Canada’s Liberal Party. He will remain in both roles until a replacement is chosen.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, who rose to power nearly a decade ago and quickly became seen as a progressive icon across the West, said on Monday that he would step down in the coming months, bowing to an angry electorate at a time of uncertain economic prospects and political infighting.
The announcement, which came amid a gridlocked parliament, left Canada in political flux just as the incoming Trump administration has vowed a raft of punishing tariffs on Canadian imports.
“It’s time for a reset,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters outside his residence on a frigid morning in Ottawa, the capital. Mr. Trudeau said that he had suspended Parliament until March 24 and that he would stay on as Liberal Party leader and prime minister until his replacement had been chosen through a nationwide party election.
“I truly feel that removing the contention around my own continued leadership is an opportunity to bring the temperature down,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau, 53, who assumed office in November 2015, is the latest leader in the West to be swept aside by a mood of anti-incumbency, a backlash against immigration and anger at the lingering effects of a spike in inflation during the Coronavirus pandemic. Although inflation in Canada has receded to below 2 percent, unemployment remains high, at above 6 percent.
General elections must be held by October, a timetable that Mr. Trudeau referred to on Monday.
“It’s become obvious to me with the internal battles that I cannot be the one to carry the Liberal standard into the next election,” he said.