Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been able to retain his position despite political turmoil over the last several months, looks set to lose power early next year, a good nine months before the scheduled federal election in October 2025. This is because New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh, a key ally of Trudeau, has decided to pull the rug from under his feet.
Singh has announced that he will move a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons after the winter break on January 27. According to him, the Liberals don’t deserve another chance. “No matter who is leading the Liberal Party, this government’s time is up,” he said.
“Justin Trudeau failed in the biggest job a Prime Minister has: to work for people, not the powerful. The NDP will vote to bring this government down, and give Canadians a chance to vote for a government who will work for them,” Singh wrote in a post on X.
Justin Trudeau failed in the biggest job a Prime Minister has: to work for people, not the powerful.
The NDP will vote to bring this government down, and give Canadians a chance to vote for a government who will work for them. pic.twitter.com/uqklF6RrUX
— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) December 20, 2024
Chances of Trudeau surviving the no-confidence motion this time are little to none because the other opposition party that had been preventing an early election Bloc Quebecois has also said they will back the motion.
The principal opposition, the Conservative party has been seeking an ouster of the government and early elections for the last three months since the NDP decided to withdraw their outside support to the Trudeau government, leaving them as a minority government since then. Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre had even challenged Jagmeet Singh to bring a no-confidence motion.
Singh’s announcement also came on a day when Trudeau shuffled his cabinet and held the first meeting of the new cabinet. But that hasn’t eased the calls for change in the Liberal Party leadership. 19 MPs have publicly called for him to step aside. The latest to join the leadership change chorus is four-term Liberal MP Rob Oliphant. Some MPs like Jenica Atwin have said they won’t run for the next election under Trudeau’s leadership.
However, even in the face of the growing chorus against him by his party MPs and some shocking byelection losses in Liberal strongholds, the Prime Minister has said he would continue in his position.