Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shook up his Cabinet on Friday, replacing a third of his team as political turmoil threatens his leadership and raises tensions with incoming US President Donald Trump.
The reshuffle comes at the end of a chaotic week in Ottawa, sparked by the surprise resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland after a disagreement with her boss over Trump’s threats to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports.
Trudeau’s exit after being with him for nearly a decade marks the first open dissent against the prime minister within his cabinet and has emboldened critics.
Since then, Trudeau has been courting advisers as he reportedly considers his political future amid calls to step down before elections scheduled for October 2025 but expected much sooner.
In Friday’s reshuffle, eight new ministers were appointed to the 35-member cabinet replacing those who have indicated they will not seek re-election, and others in the government will be relieved of their double or triple duties.
Four existing ministers were also given new responsibilities.
Freeland, who has also left her role as finance minister, has said she will run for re-election next year.
behind in the polls
Trudeau’s childhood friend and ally Dominic LeBlanc was sworn in as the new finance minister just hours after Freeland stepped down.
He also took over the reins of negotiations with the incoming Trump administration.
Several cabinet recruits expressed their confidence in Trudeau as he headed to the swearing-in ceremony on Friday.
But a portion of his caucus has urged him to resign, worried that voter fatigue with his leadership will hurt the Liberals in the next election.
Trudeau came to power in 2015 and led the Liberals to two more ballot-box victories in 2019 and 2021.
But he is now 20 points behind his main rival, conservative Pierre Poilievre, in opinion polls. And his Liberals lost four by-elections this year.
Compounding those woes, Trudeau faces the possibility that Trump in January will impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and both will face an influx of illegal drugs, namely fentanyl, and undocumented immigrants into the United States. Will be accused of giving permission.
More than 75 percent of Canada’s exports go to the United States and approximately two million Canadian jobs depend on trade.
In his resignation letter, Freeland warned that this could lead to a “tariff war” with the United States and urged Ottawa to keep its “fiscal powder dry” while condemning Trudeau’s spending policies.
Trudeau traveled to Florida last month to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in a bid to stop the trade war.
Trump described the dinner conversation as “very productive.”
But since then the president-elect has also been launching derogatory attacks against Trudeau on social media, repeatedly calling him the “governor” of Canada and declaring that the United States’ northern neighbor becoming the 51st US state would be a “great “idea”.
Political analysts and officials have said the taunts appear to be aimed at putting Trudeau on the back foot in bilateral talks.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
