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Mr. Trudeau grew up in the spotlight as the son of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a Canadian prime minister. In 2015, at age 43, Mr. Trudeau became Canada’s second-youngest leader after his Liberal Party won a strong parliamentary majority.
Mr. Trudeau was savvy with social media and enjoyed a long political honeymoon after his election. (He also had good hair.)
In 2017, Mr. Trudeau came under pressure to stand up to Donald J. Trump, the newly elected U.S. president. As Mr. Trump restricted immigration, Mr. Trudeau restated Canada’s openness to asylum seekers, proclaiming, “Diversity is our strength.”
During his time in office, Mr. Trudeau prioritized two issues. One was climate change. The other was reconciliation with Indigenous people, over the generational harms from a system of boarding schools that were rife with abuse. He also followed through on a pledge to legalize marijuana.
In 2019, the Liberals maintained their hold on power with Mr. Trudeau as their leader, but by a narrower margin, and they failed to secure a majority in Parliament. The Liberals needed support from smaller parties to advance Mr. Trudeau’s legislative agenda.
During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Mr. Trudeau became the first Group of 7 leader to isolate himself, after his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for Covid-19.
Voters returned him to office in 2021, but the Liberals failed again to win a majority of votes in Parliament. Mr. Trudeau has since faced intense criticism from the Conservative opposition for some of his pandemic and recovery policies.
Economy: Canada’s post-pandemic inflation spiked to 8 percent, though it has since receded below 2 percent. Unemployment remains high, around 6.4 percent. The Conservative opposition has hammered Mr. Trudeau’s carbon-tax program.
Housing: The cost of housing in many major Canadian cities has become untenable. An economic analysis this year found that in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, prices would have to plummet, or incomes would have to improbably soar, to restore affordability.
Immigration: In October, Mr. Trudeau said he was tightening Canada’s immigration policies after the country welcomed nearly three million people over three years, straining health care and other services.
Scandals: In 2018, Mr. Trudeau was accused of groping a reporter in 2000, an allegation he rejected. A federal ethics commissioner in 2019 ruled that Mr. Trudeau tried to circumvent, undermine, and discredit his former justice minister and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, in connection with a criminal case against SNC-Lavalin.
Infighting: Mr. Trudeau’s hold on power slipped in September when the left-leaning New Democratic Party deprived the Liberals of guaranteed support needed to pass legislation. This week, Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister and finance minister, resigned abruptly, a stinging rebuke to Mr. Trudeau.
What will happen if Mr. Trudeau resigns? If he steps down as party leader, he will no longer be prime minister. He has two options: he can say he will step down when the party has a new leader, some weeks or months in the future. Or he can step down immediately, in which case the party would appoint an interim leader who could not run for the leadership under Liberal Party rules. The next step would be to hold a federal election under the new Liberal leadership.
The next federal election could be set off at any point through two means. Mr. Trudeau has the power to dissolve Parliament at any time, and that would lead to an election. Or, if the opposition were to defeat the Liberal government through a confidence motion or vote down a budget bill, the government would fall, and an election would follow.
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