Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday announced his resignation after nearly a decade in power, bowing to rising discontent over his leadership and growing turmoil within his government signaled by the abrupt departure of his finance minister.
Trudeau, the latest incumbent to be driven out by rising voter dissatisfaction worldwide, said it had become clear to him that he cannot “be the leader during the next elections due to internal battles.”
He planned to stay on as prime minister until a new leader of the Liberal Party is chosen.
Photo: AFP
“I don’t easily back down faced with a fight, especially a very important one for our party and the country, but I do this job, because the interests of Canadians and the well-being of democracy” are “something that I hold dear,” said Trudeau, who was initially teary-eyed at the announcement outside his official residence.
The Canadian parliament, which had been due to resume on Jan. 27, would be suspended until March 24, he said.
The timing would allow for a Liberal Party leadership race.
All three main opposition parties have said they plan to topple the Liberal Party in a no-confidence vote when the parliament resumes, so a spring election after the Liberals pick a new leader is almost assured.
“The Liberal Party of Canada is an important institution in the history of our great country and democracy. A new prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into that next election,” Trudeau said. “I am excited to see that process unfold in the months ahead.”
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
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