Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday (Jan 6) that he will step down as leader of the ruling Liberals after nine years in office but will stay on in his post until the party chooses a replacement.
Trudeau, under heavy pressure from Liberal legislators to quit amid polls showing the party will be crushed at the next election, said at a news conference that parliament would be suspended until March 24.
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Trudeau, under heavy pressure from Liberal legislators to quit amid polls showing the party will be crushed at the next election, said at a news conference that parliament would be suspended until March 24.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00So I thought it might be fun for us to do this again.
00:15I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next
00:23leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process.
00:29Last night, I asked the President of the Liberal Party to begin that process.
00:35This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to
00:40me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.
00:49As you all know, I am a fighter, and I am not someone who backs away from a fight, particularly
00:55when a fight is as important as this one is.
01:01But I have always been driven by my love for Canada, by my desire to serve Canadians, and
01:08by what is in the best interests of Canadians.
01:11And Canadians deserve a real choice in the next election, and it has become obvious to
01:16me with the internal battles that I cannot be the one to carry the Liberal standard into
01:25the next election.
01:26If I have one regret, particularly as we approach this election – well, there are probably
01:30many regrets that I will think of – but I do wish that we'd been able to change the
01:38way we elect our governments in this country so that people could simply choose a second
01:44choice or a third choice on the same ballot, so that parties would spend more time trying
01:49to be people's second or third choices, and people would have been looking for things
01:56they have in common instead of trying to polarize and divide Canadians against each other.
02:01I think in this time, figuring out how to pull together and find common ground remains
02:08something that is really important for democracies.
02:10But I could not change unilaterally without the support of other parties.
02:16Without our electoral system, that wouldn't have been responsible.