(Bloomberg) -- Justin Trudeau will announce Monday morning he plans to resign as leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, according to a person familiar with the matter, triggering a contest to replace him as prime minister.
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Trudeau’s office has scheduled an announcement for 10:45 a.m. in Ottawa. He has been under pressure from elected lawmakers in his party to quit for months; that has only intensified since Chrystia Freeland, his finance minister, stepped down on Dec. 16, saying she and the prime minister were at odds on policy.
Trudeau will stay on as prime minister until his successor is chosen, said the person, speaking on condition they not be identified.
After the split with Freeland, some of Trudeau’s closest advisers held the view that the prime minister would be unable to survive the political fallout, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. The news of his resignation was reported first by Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Freeland, new Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney are seen by political observers as candidates to replace him.
More than 20 Liberal members of parliament have publicly called for Trudeau’s departure, and even more have said in private meetings that the prime minister has no choice but to leave. The Liberals have 153 seats in the House of Commons, including Trudeau’s.
“The country could face instability, notably from an economic threat in the potential of a 25% US tariff on Canadian imports from the incoming administration,” said a recent letter sent to the prime minister by Kody Blois, who leads a group of Liberal members from the four easternmost provinces. “Simply put, time is of the essence,” Blois said, adding that it’s “not tenable for you to remain as the leader.”
The Canadian currency strengthened after an initial report by the Globe and Mail on Sunday that said Trudeau’s resignation is likely. “Traders may be buying the loonie on the view that the worst is over for Canadian politics after all the recent uncertainty,” said Ken Cheung, a strategist at Mizuho Bank.
The prime minister has largely disappeared from public view since Freeland posted her stinging resignation letter. Trudeau spent much of the holidays at a ski resort in western Canada and hasn’t spoken with reporters since returning to Ottawa.