Poilievre calls for Christmas election amid Liberal chaos

Article content

OTTAWA — Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre demanded on Monday that the government call an immediate election as the Liberals were thrown into chaos by high-profile resignations, saying there is no time to waste with Donald Trump’s inauguration as president just over a month away.

Article content

Article content

Poilievre said it’s clear “everything is out of control” after finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland announced her shocking resignation from cabinet Monday morning, just hours before she was to deliver her fall fiscal update, which she had reportedly clashed with the Prime Minister’s Office over.

Article content

“It would be ideal to have the election done before the president takes office (on Jan. 20) or within the first week or two of his mandate,” Poilievre told reporters at a press conference on Parliament Hill. “So that Canadians would have a strong prime minister, with brains and backbone… facing down President Trump and our American competitors.”

Poilievre added that he wasn’t worried about springing a holiday election campaign on Canadians.

“I think right now, Canadians’ Christmas holidays are being interrupted by the NDP-Liberal hell they’re living under,” said Poilievre.

“And I think the best Christmas present we could give Canadians is to let them choose a new common-sense Conservative government that will bring home Canada’s promise.”

Freeland’s resignation letter posted to X on Monday morning took aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, accusing him of unseriously trotting out “costly political gimmicks” ahead of a potentially costly trade dispute with the U.S.

“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” read the letter. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”

Article content

Article content

Trump said last month that he’d slap a 25-per-cent tariff on both Canadian and Mexican imports unless the two countries cracked down on the flow of drugs and illegal migrants into the U.S. He’s since taken multiple shots at Trudeau on social media, recently calling him “governor” of “the great state of Canada.”

Freeland has indicated she will continue on as an MP and plans to run in the next federal election.

“Ms. Freeland has been Mr. Trudeau’s most trusted minister now for a decade. She knows him better than anyone, and she knows that he’s out of control,” Poilievre said, asserting that it is now up to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to end his party’s support  that has kept the minority Liberals in power for several years.

Earlier in the day, Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced he was leaving his post and not seeking re-election.

Liberal backbencher Chad Collins, one of the 23 Liberal MPs who circulated a letter asking Trudeau to resign in October, publicly reiterated his resignation call on Monday afternoon.

Article content

New Brunswick Liberal MP Wayne Long, one of a few others who in October has called for the prime minister’s resignation, told reporters at Parliament Hill on Monday it was “time to go” for Trudeau, adding that he saw a prorogation followed by a leadership race as the path forward.

As of writing, it was still unclear who would deliver the Liberals’ fall economic statement, scheduled to be tabled in the House around 4 p.m. ET today.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, next in line per an order-in-council, wouldn’t say Monday morning whether he’d be giving the update.

Third in the order of succession is Edmonton MP Randy Boissonnault, who resigned from cabinet last month over a pattern of misleading claims relating to his supposed Indigenous heritage.

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Article content