MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
A major shake-up is playing out in Canada's government. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went in front of the cameras this morning to announce he would step down after close to a decade in power.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU: I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process.
KELLY: Trudeau had faced months of mounting pressure to resign from both allies and opponents over his handling of the economy and immigration. NPR international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam has this look at Trudeau's legacy.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: Prime Minister Trudeau looked somber as he spoke about his love for Canada. But the 53-year-old Trudeau acknowledged his rock-bottom support heading into the next federal election.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUDEAU: It has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.
NORTHAM: This is a far cry from when Trudeau first swept onto the political scene, carrying a famous family name. His father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was twice prime minister of Canada. Tall, with movie star magnetism, the younger Trudeau had a high-profile presence, including this charity boxing match while he was a senator.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED BOXING COMMENTATOR: The adrenaline. The pressure's been on these guys...
NORTHAM: Boxing commentators dubbed Trudeau the Shiny Pony.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED BOXING COMMENTATOR: The Shiny Pony is a stallion.
NORTHAM: Trudeau surprised many by winning that boxing match and the election in 2015. He energized voters, especially young ones. Trudeau was also a hit internationally, says Stephen Marche, a Toronto-based author who has covered Trudeau's career.
STEPHEN MARCHE: New York Magazine had cut out paper dolls of Trudeau, right? Like, he was absolutely a celebrity politician at the moment when celebrity came to dominate politics.
NORTHAM: Trudeau promised a progressive agenda, including a more open immigration policy, more taxes on the wealthy and more action to protect the environment.
FEN HAMPSON: Ten or 20 years from now, people will see him as very much a transformative leader.
NORTHAM: Fen Hampson is a professor of international affairs at Ottawa's Carleton University. He says Trudeau also promised to promote diversity and gender equality.
HAMPSON: He announced that 50% of his Cabinet would be women, and he held to that commitment.
NORTHAM: But Canada's honeymoon with Trudeau lasted only a few years. There were scandals, some ministers resigned and some of the policies began to sour with voters, including immigration, says Nik Nanos with Nanos Research - a polling firm based in Ottawa. He says the Trudeau government boosted the numbers of new immigrants each year, which created significant stress on the housing market, health care and education.
NIK NANOS: And I think for a lot of Canadians, although they're still generally supportive of immigration, they felt that these exceptionally high immigration rate was too much.
NORTHAM: Nano says inflation also hit Trudeau's popularity. He says many Canadians believe in a progressive agenda.
NANOS: But if you can't pay for the rent in the next 30 days or if you're struggling to pay for the groceries this week, that's another issue that they want to hear from politicians.
NORTHAM: Which Nanos says Trudeau didn't address. Author Stephen Marche says Trudeau became the face of a too-liberal agenda.
MARCHE: He was Captain Woke, and the world has really, really turned against wokeness in a very, very deep way.
NORTHAM: But Carleton University's Hampson says Trudeau's departure comes as President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to place 25% tariffs on Canadian products, which could cripple its economy.
HAMPSON: The degree of domestic political uncertainty, along with the uncertainty in terms of what's going to happen to the economy - this couldn't be a worse period to be changing the leadership within the country.
NORTHAM: Trudeau will stay on as prime minister until the Liberal Party chooses a new leader.
Jackie Northam, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
