TORONTO (AP) — Embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his Cabinet on Friday but his future remains an open question.
The prime minister’s office confirmed Trudeau will participate in the swearing-in ceremony Friday and chair a meeting with his new Cabinet later in the afternoon.
Trudeau is facing rising discontent over his leadership, and the abrupt departure of his finance minister on Monday could be something he can’t recover from.
New Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday Trudeau has the “full support of his Cabinet" but acknowledged a rising number of Liberal Members of Parliament want Trudeau to resign. He said Trudeau told them he is reflecting.
“Many people even within his own party want Justin Trudeau to call it quits now but it’s still unclear whether he will go before the next federal elections," said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
Trudeau is expected to replace ministers who aren’t running again. And some ministers are in two roles after others suddenly left Cabinet. It is unclear if he will speak.
Béland said a shuffle is a necessary exercise because of the recent departures from Cabinet.
"But for many Canadians who think the due date of this unpopular minority government has passed, it might simply appear as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," Béland said.
Trudeau, who has led the country for nearly a decade, has become widely unpopular in recent years over a wide range of issues including the high cost of living and rising inflation.
The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if the government does not stem what Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs in the U.S. — even though far fewer of each crosses into the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has also threatened.
There is no mechanism for Trudeau’s party to force him out in the short term. He could resign, or his Liberal party could be forced from power by a “no confidence” vote in Parliament that would trigger an election that would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party
Concerns about Trudeau’s leadership were exacerbated Monday when Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, resigned from the Cabinet. Freeland was highly critical of Trudeau’s handling of the economy in the face of steep tariffs threatened by Trump. Shortly before Freeland announced her decision, the housing minister also quit.
Parliament is now shut for the holidays until late next month, and a “no confidence” vote could be scheduled sometime afterward.
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