Key Ally Abandons Trudeau in Fresh Blow to His Government

 

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Key Ally Abandons Trudeau in Fresh Blow to His Government

 

The leader of the party that supported Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party vowed to bring down the government, saying Mr. Trudeau had failed Canada.

 

Ian Austen

By Ian Austen

Reporting from Ottawa

Dec. 20, 2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/20/world/canada/trudeau-liberal-party-jagmeet-singh.html

 

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada tried to reverse his plunging fortunes on Friday by rearranging his cabinet, a key political ally called Mr. Trudeau a failed leader and vowed to bring down his government.

 

Jagmeet Singh, whose New Democratic Party has provided Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party with the votes it needed to move legislation through Parliament, released a scathing letter promising to bring a motion to defeat the government in the House of Commons after Parliament returns from a holiday break next month.

 

“The Trudeau Liberals said a lot of the right things,” Mr. Singh wrote. “Then they let people down again and again. Justin Trudeau failed in his biggest job as prime minister: to work for the people.”

 

“The Liberals,’’ he added, “don’t deserve another chance.”

 

The Conservative Party is likely to back any such motion, which, if passed, would lead to an immediate general election.

 

Mr. Singh’s rejection of the government comes as Mr. Trudeau is grappling with how to stave off threats by President-elect Donald J. Trump to impose potentially damaging 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico unless the two countries curb the flow of undocumented migrants and drugs into the United States.

 

And it follows the political shock brought on by the resignation of Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister and finance minister. She had helped steer Mr. Trudeau’s government through major challenges, including renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement during the first Trump administration.

 

Ms. Freeland was frustrated by economic measures by the Trudeau government, including a lifting of a federal sales tax on certain items during the holiday season. She called them “political gimmicks” that would weaken Canada’s economy at a moment when the country needs to prepare itself for a major negotiation over tariffs.

 

Ms. Freeland’s sudden departure intensified and expanded calls within and outside the Liberal Party for Mr. Trudeau to resign as its leader.

 

Mr. Singh was among those who demanded that the prime minister step down after Ms. Freeland’s resignation.

 

Through a formal agreement, Mr. Singh and the New Democrats had been propping up Mr. Trudeau’s party in the House of Commons, where it does not hold a majority of the votes. The arrangement was supposed to run until June 2025, but in September, Mr. Singh ended it. Despite that, the New Democrats have continued to vote with the Liberals.

 

Now, by planning to bring down the government, Mr. Singh has further weakened Mr. Trudeau’s hold on power.

 

Parliament is not scheduled to return until Jan. 27. But many political observers expect that Mr. Trudeau could, in essence, suspend Parliament and delay its return, preventing Mr. Singh from entering a no-confidence vote.

 

Mr. Trudeau has not explicitly discussed his political future in public this week, and his office has canceled traditional year-end television interviews.

 

At two holiday parties for Liberal donors, members of Parliament and their staffs this week, Mr. Trudeau offered vigorous, campaign-style speeches with no obvious indications that he was headed to political retirement. Still, his aides have said that he will use the time off during the end-of-year holidays to reflect on his future.

 

Mr. Trudeau replaced Ms. Freeland as finance minister with Dominic LeBlanc, a friend who had been public safety minister. Mr. LeBlanc was part of a group that flew to Florida with Mr. Trudeau for a working dinner with Mr. Trump about issues like the border and tariffs. Despite her previous pivotal role in dealing with Washington, Ms. Freeland was conspicuously absent.

 

On Friday, Mr. Trudeau held a swearing-in ceremony for his rearranged cabinet.

 

The cabinet shuffle filled positions left vacant by ministers who had stepped down after announcing that they were not seeking re-election to their Parliamentary seats.

 

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, a member of Parliament from Toronto, became the new housing minister. The high cost of housing is one reason so many Canadians have soured on Mr. Trudeau.

 

“I understand it’s going to be a short runway,” Mr. Erskine-Smith told reporters.

 

While some Liberal members of Parliament who are not in cabinet are openly demanding that Mr. Trudeau step down, no ministers have done so publicly.

 

Most of the 12 ministers sworn in on Friday spoke about the need for unity in the face of the incoming Trump administration.

 

Mr. Trudeau left the ceremony without speaking to reporters.

 

Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times based in Ottawa. He covers politics, culture and the people of Canada and has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at austen@nytimes.com. More about Ian Austen