Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was last night after press time to announce he would step down as Liberal Party leader, but stay on until a replacement is chosen, CBC News reported yesterday, citing sources.
Trudeau was due to hold a news conference at 3:45pm GMT, it said.
After a Globe and Mail report on Trudeau’s possible resignation on Sunday, a source told Reuters Trudeau was expected to announce as early as yesterday that he would quit as leader of Canada’s ruling party after nine years in office.
Photo: Reuters
The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Trudeau’s departure would leave the party without a permanent head as polls show the Liberals would badly lose to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.
Sources told the Globe and Mail they expected Trudeau to resign before an emergency meeting of Liberal legislators tomorrow.
An increasing number of Liberal lawmakers, alarmed by a series of gloomy polls, have publicly urged Trudeau to quit.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. The prime minister’s regularly published schedule for yesterday said he would participate virtually in a Cabinet committee meeting on Canada-US relations.
Trudeau took over as Liberal leader in 2013 when the party was in deep trouble and had been reduced to third place in the House of Commons for the first time.
If he resigns, it would likely spur fresh calls for a quick election to put in place a stable government able to deal with the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump for the next four years.
The prime minister has discussed with Canadian Minister of Finance Dominic LeBlanc, who is also minister of intergovernmental affairs, whether he would be willing to step in as interim leader and prime minister, one source told the newspaper, adding that this would be unworkable if LeBlanc plans to run for the leadership.
Trudeau, 53, had fended off Liberal legislators worried about the polls and the loss of safe seats in two special elections.
However, calls for him to step aside have grown since last month, when Trudeau tried to demote then-Canadian minister of finance Chrystia Freeland, one of his closest Cabinet allies, after she pushed back against his proposals for more spending.
Freeland quit instead and penned a letter accusing Trudeau of “political gimmicks” rather than focusing on what was best for the country.
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS