Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 7, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Website development earch and display advertising Print advertising Search engine optimization Social media campaigns Advertising on winnipegfreepress.com WFP < / > Call 204-697-7122, or visit winnipegfreepress.com/mediakit S YOUR NEW MARKETING PARTNERS MEET SERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872. FOREVER WITH YOUR SUPPORT. TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2025 WEATHER PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH -20 — LOW -22 SPORTS HIGH-FLYING JETS SET FOR SECOND HALF / D1 SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces his resignation as Liberal leader and prime minister outside the Rideau Cottage residence in Ottawa on Monday morning. TRUDEAU RESIGNS Prime minister stepping down after Liberal leadership race, prorogues Parliament O TTAWA — As a tearful Justin Trudeau outlined his plans to resign as Liberal leader and prime minister on Monday, he put the country on track for an early election featuring a new party flagbearer for the first time in a decade. Once seen as the Liberal saviour who lifted a battered party brand up from the ashes, Trudeau came up against a groundswell of pressure from party rank-and-file to step aside as the public soured on his government and grew hungry for change. The questions now are when exactly the election will come, and who will vie to become Trudeau’s successor, tasked with the hercule- an feat of raising the party back up from the depths. After more than a year of plummeting poll numbers and surging pressure from within his own caucus to step aside, he informed Canadi- ans on Monday he will step aside as soon as a new leader is chosen. “This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election,” Trudeau said outside his official residence in Ottawa. Trudeau said he reflected on his political future over the holidays and told his three kids about his decision over dinner Sunday. He also said Gov. Gen. Mary Simon has agreed to his request to prorogue Parliament until March 24. Trudeau had consistently signalled over the past year he intended to remain at the helm despite growing calls he step down. But the de- cisive blow that shattered his grip on the party reins came when Chrystia Freeland suddenly resigned as minister of finance and deputy prime minister on Dec. 16, after Trudeau had informed her he was going to move her out of the finance portfolio. Her departure, hours before she was to table the fall economic statement in the House of Commons, sent shock waves through the gov- erning party. Questions about Trudeau’s future have swirled since support for his party began to tumble in 2023. The Liberals have trailed the Conservatives by more than 20 points for more than a year now. KYLE DUGGAN AND DAVID BAXTER No way to recover when the calls are coming from inside the house IN the world of professional sports, commen- tators often talk about how head coaches get fired because they “lost the dressing room.” It’s a phrase meant to describe the moment coaches lose the confidence of the people they are charged with leading. Now, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t a coach. But history will show he lost not one, but two rooms. First, he lost the confidence of the citizenry, who had grown fond of blaming him for every- thing that was wrong in their lives. Even things for which no prime minister of any persuasion should be blamed. And then, after losing the country, he lost the confidence of his own party. Some observers may find the order of these events to be rather perverse; that Trudeau would agree to step down as Liberal leader not because of his woeful public support, but following an open revolt by his caucus. But for anyone who has ever toiled in high-level poli- tics, it makes perfect sense. Political leaders can always mitigate con- cerns over a loss of public support with base- less faith that they can somehow win voters back before election day. But when the people who sell memberships and knock on doors say they are no longer willing to follow you into battle, there is really no rationale for staying as leader. How and why Trudeau went from being one of the most popular prime ministers in history to one of the most disparaged will be analyzed and debated for years to come. However, the one inescapable reality that Trudeau refused to accept is that the political world, both here and abroad, has changed dramatically since 2013, when Trudeau seized the party leadership. Back then, Trudeau’s youthful good looks and his advanced retail political skills made him the perfect candidate to take down Conserva- tive prime minister Stephen Harper’s tired and cynical government. OPINION DAN LETT MORE COVERAGE ON A2-4, A6-7, B7 ● LETT, CONTINUED ON A2 ● TRUDEAU, CONTINUED ON A2 ;