Trudeau Out, Two Indian-Origin Contenders Among 8 In Canadian PM Race

Last Updated:January 07, 2025, 00:04 IST

The Canadian leader announced his resignation (local time) at a news conference this morning at Rideau Cottage.

Anita Anand (left) and George Chahal (right) (Photos: X)

Justin Trudeau on Monday announced his resignation as Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader amid a revolt from his own party and soaring public unpopularity as polls predict a wipeout from power by Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives in general elections this year.

The Canadian leader announced his resignation (local time) at a news conference this morning at Rideau Cottage. This comes as a growing number of Liberal MPs have called on him to resign, with 131 of 153 MPs against him.

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Trudeau is likely to continue as interim Prime Minister till new leadership is elected or the party can provide a new leader.

Contenders To Replace Trudeau

Chrystia Freeland: Serving as Trudeau’s deputy PM and Finance Minister, Freeland’s shocking resignation amid differences with Trudeau over US President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats plunged the government into crisis. All eyes would be on Freeland as she is billed as the most high-profile contender to replace Trudeau with her strong international credentials and economic expertise, although her long association with Trudeau’s government may pose as a liability.

Mark Carney: A former Bank of Canada and Bank of England Governor, Carney has emerged as a strong contender for the leadership position. His financial acumen and economic credentials may aid his grand political achievements, but he lacks political experience and his outsider status may hurt his leadership bid.

Dominic LeBlanc: A senior Liberal Cabinet minister and a close confidante of Trudeau, LeBlanc has significant political experience that makes him a viable candidate for the leadership post. LeBlanc currently serves as the Finance Minister after Freeland’s exit. A source told The Globe and Mail that Trudeau discussed whether LeBlanc would be willing to step in as interim leader, although he lacks the popularity of Freeland.

Melanie Joly: Another top contender to replace Trudeau, Joly serves as the foreign minister and is considered close to the beleaguered Prime Minister. Her handling of Canada’s conflicts with India, China and Russia have attracted criticism, but she still remains a strong competitor. However, her efforts to woo voters may be hampered by her strong association with Trudeau’s government and her foreign policy outreach.

Francois-Philippe Champagne: A businessman, trade and international specialist with decades of experience at large international companies, Champagne is also a top contender to replace Trudeau as the party leader. Liberal leaders from Quebec favour him as a suitable choice for party leader due to his progressive policies, although he faces challenges in attracting centrist votes.

Christy Clark: Former British Columbia premier Clark has also expressed her interest in leading the party after Trudeau. The 58-year-old politician is a prominent figure in Canadian politics and is one of the dissenting Liberal politicians calling for Trudeau’s exit. She has also accused him of “stoking divisions"

Two Indian-Origin MPs In Running

Anita Anand, former Defence Minister and current Transport and Internal Trade Minister in Trudeau’s Cabinet, is also being seen as a potential successor to lead the party. Her parents were both Indian physicians from Tamil Nadu and Punjab.

Anand holds significant experience in politics, since leading contract negotiations to secure medical equipment at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as Minister of Public Services and Procurement, from 2019 to 2021.

However, several MPs have expressed a preference for another Indian-origin interim leader – Alberta Liberal MP George Chahal, who wrote a letter to his caucus colleagues with that request last week. An advocate and a community leader, Chahal as served in various committees as the Calgary City Councillor for Ward 5 and is also the Chair of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, and the Chair of the Sikh Caucus.

Chahal has also grown increasingly critical of Trudeau and has called on him to step down and for the party to begin a leadership contest. However, if Chahal is elected interim leader, he will be ruled out of the PM race as tradition dictates that the interim leader does not run as a candidate.

What’s Next?

Trudeau’s worries deepened when former ally New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Jagmeet Singh said it would withdraw support and aid a confidence vote against the Liberal government, adding to the flurry of calls demanding the 53-year-old leader to step down amid public scorn over financial and housing problems.

The Atlantic, Ontario and Quebec caucuses have signalled that most of their membership no longer supports Trudeau remaining at the helm. Of the 153 seats that the Liberals hold in the House of Commons, those three regions account for 131 of them. Trudeau told MPs that he’d reflect on his future before a holiday break.

Now Trudeau has resigned, the party has two options. The party would either appoint an interim leader on the recommendation of national caucus or hold a shortened leadership contest. A leadership contest would require the Prime Minister to request that Governor-General Mary Simon prorogue Parliament, which constitutional experts say is not guaranteed, according to The Globe. 

However, the Liberals are likely to appoint an interim leader to replace Trudeau while the party sets up a special leadership convention. The party constitution dictates that the party executive has to call a meeting within 27 days of the resignation to lay down rules in case of a leadership contest. The three sources said they are uncertain about the plans of the Liberal Party national executive to replace Trudeau as leader.

The Liberal party faces a dire challenge. If the special leadership convention could take months to arrange and if an election does occur before then, the Liberals would be in the hands of an interim prime minister not chosen by members, which has never happened in Canada before. There is also a possibility that a shorter timeline would lead to making bad choices, which the national executive is aware of.

Ottawa, Canada

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