By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose party looks set to lose power early next year, is under increasing pressure from his own legislators to step down and let someone else take over.
The ruling Liberals face obliteration in the next election after more than nine years in office amid voter fatigue as well as anger over high prices and a housing crisis.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp said more than 50 Liberal members of parliament from Ontario – the most populous of the 10 provinces and the party’s main stronghold – held a call on Saturday and agreed Trudeau had to step down.
“There is no alternative but to have the leadership change now,” Liberal legislator Chandra Arya, traditionally a Trudeau loyalist, told the CBC on Sunday. As of last Friday, only 18 legislators had publicly demanded that Trudeau quit.
Last week, Trudeau suffered two major blows – then finance minister Chrystia Freeland quit amid a policy dispute over spending and all the opposition parties then said they would unite to bring down the minority Liberal government.
If he quit and the party had time to choose a new permanent leader, the contenders would potentially include Freeland, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, and former central bank governor Mark Carney.
Trudeau though shows no intention of leaving soon. The Globe and Mail, citing a Liberal source, said he would spend Christmas with family before taking a skiing vacation in the Pacific province of British Columbia.
A Liberal source told Reuters last week that Trudeau would mull his future over the Christmas and New Year.
Opposition parties say that given Trudeau’s days are clearly numbered, and the incoming U.S. administration is promising to impose a crippling 25% tariff on all Canadian imports, the country needs an election now to produce a stable government.
Polls show the Liberals would be crushed by the official opposition right-of-center Conservatives in an election.
The Liberal Party released an advert over the weekend saying that if the Conservatives won, they would slash public spending. The spot did not mention Trudeau once.
Trudeau’s options include staying on until a near-certain defeat in a no-confidence motion, probably in March, stepping down next month to allow the party to name an interim leader, or ending the current session of parliament to buy the Liberals some time to choose a new leader and prepare for the next election, though that risked alienating voters.