The man who first took power with his first federal electoral victory in 2015 also announced that Governor General Mary Simon approved his request to prorogue Parliament until March 24, effectively shutting down Parliament until a new Liberal leader has been chosen.

After remaining largely silent over the Christmas break amid an increasingly vocal chorus of Liberal Party MPs, opposition party politicians and Canadian citizens calling for his resignation, Trudeau told the assembled media that he informed his family about his choice the previous evening.

“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,” said Trudeau.

John Grant, an associate professor of political science at King’s University College, a Catholic institution federated with Western University in London, Ont., said he “thinks Trudeau certainly hoped that he could hold on. Unfortunately for him, I think he was probably the last person to ultimately realize that he didn't have any road left to travel.”

Trudeau also acknowledged in his remarks that the House of Commons has been “paralyzed" for months as opposition parties demanded the Liberals release documents related to the "Green Slush Fund," where there are serious accusations that money from the fund was dispersed to companies with ties to senior management within the Liberal government. 

The evident disarray in the Liberal Party reached a fever pitch with the dramatic resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland on Dec. 16 — the day the government tabled a fall economic statement with a $61.9 billion deficit, more than $20 billion above what the government promised in its spring budget.

Freeland and former Bank of Canada and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney are a couple of the names being mentioned as possible contenders for Trudeau’s job. Grant suggested that current Minister of Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade Anita Anand and Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Nathaniel Erskine-Smith might also have sufficient support to jump into the race.

Prorogation enables the Liberals to conduct this expedited leadership race without having to face the prospect of any of the opposition parties toppling the government via a non-confidence vote. The Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Quebecois have all promised during the ensuing chaos following Freeland's announcement to bring thte government down in a vote of non-confidence.

Late March is also the longest projected period for the government to carry on without approved spending. A Speech from the Throne will begin the next session of Parliament, which will naturally open the door to a vote that could trigger an early election.

All eyes will be on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who proclaimed on Dec. 20 that “no matter who is leading the Liberal Party, this government’s time is up.” The 45-year-old shared that message again in a post on X in the hours after Trudeau’s announcement.

Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party leader and the frontrunner to become the next Prime Minister, reacted to Trudeau’s announcement in a video statement by asking “what has really changed.” He then remarked that “every Liberal MP in power today and every potential Liberal leadership contender fighting for the top job helped Justin Trudeau break the country over the last nine years.” 

One group enthusiastically greeting Trudeau’s intention to step down is the Campaign Life Coalition, the political arm of the Canadian pro-life movement.

Campaign Life national president Jeff Gunnarsson declared that “Trudeau has done more than any other Prime Minister in our country’s history to move our country away from its Christian foundation toward an anti-life and anti-family dystopia that undermined the rights of Canadians.”

Gunnarsson specifically spotlighted Trudeau’s euthanasia regime, billions of dollars of funding for abortion organizations, intentions to strip pro-life non-profits, including pregnancy centres, of their charitable status and free contraception plan among the notable offences.

Jack Fonseca, Campaign Life’s director of political operations, called on a new Liberal leader to stop all hostilities against pregnancy care centres and end the “discriminatory Canada Summer Jobs policy that denies grants to pro-life and pro-family employers.”

The Government of Canada introduced its controversial attestation for its summer jobs program back in 2018. It required all applicants to indicate support for abortion. Though uproar from many faith groups, including the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, led to a change of wording on the form, the program still prevented grant money from flowing to anti-abortion groups.

Another important dimension of government being prorogued is that it ceases the legislative progress of every bill that has not yet become law. Notably, the controversial Online Harms Act, Bill C-63, which critics have derided as a mechanism for the government to censor Canadians, is now terminated (though the Liberals made it easier to vote down the more controversial aspects by splitting the bill into two).

While his fellow party members grapple over the next weeks over who should succeed him, Trudeau remains in charge for the next 70-plus days. He will steer Canada through the first two months of Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president. Trump has already set the nation on edge with threats of imposing a 25-per-cent tariff on all of Canada's exports to the U.S. unless it tightens its borders to migrants and illegal drugs. Trump has also been trolling Trudeau online, referring to him often in social media posts as the "governor" of the 51st American state. Trump has only upped his rhetoric in recent days, declaring Canada should merge with the U.S. 

Also on the horizon is the 51st G7 Summit which Canada is to host later this year in Kananaskis, Alta. Trump, France President Emmanuel Macron, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba are among the leaders who will come to Kananaskis in June (dates yet to be determined) for the summit.

“You would like there to be a prime minister in place who has a mandate from a federal election to preside over that meeting,” said Grant.

Assuming all opposition parties do trigger an election with a non-confidence vote, an election campaign between 37 and 51 days will commence.

“Even if we do have a new Prime Minister by (the G7), that person will have very little prep time for that sort of international conference and setting,” said Grant. “It will be difficult for whoever wins the next election.”

An election must occur by Oct. 20 at the latest.