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Canada's Trudeau reshuffles his Cabinet as resignation calls mount and new election threat looms

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's chances of staying on in power have become more tenuous after the opposition party that backed his government for years announced it will vote no confidence in the government when Parliament resumes.

By ROB GILLIES

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's chances of staying on in power have become more tenuous after the opposition party that backed his government for years announced it will vote no confidence in the government when Parliament resumes.

An embattled Trudeau reshuffled his Cabinet on Friday — but whether he will step aside in the coming days or weeks remains an open question.

Trudeau did not address his future or take questions after he left the meeting with his new Cabinet. But Trudeau said his government is preparing for Donald Trump and his threat to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian products.

''In exactly one month the new president will inaugurated and we are preparing Canada to face that,'' Trudeau said in his first remarks to reporters since his finance minister quit.

''Whatever the U.S. administration may do, that is our priority, and that is that we're working on and we have a lot of work to do.''

But Trudeau is facing rising discontent over his leadership, and the abrupt departure of his finance minister on Monday could be something he can't recover from.

''The prime minister has simply asked for some time to reflect on his own future,'' said David McGuinty, the new Public Safety Minister.

Rachel Bendayan, the official languages minister, said Trudeau ''told us he had a difficult choice to make."

The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada.

Trump keeps calling Trudeau the governor of the 51st state and has threatened to impose sweeping tariffs if Canada does not stem what he calls a flow of migrants and drugs in the United States — even though far fewer of each cross into the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has also threatened.

''We have in the next 60 days an existential threat for the Canadian economy, for people that could lose their jobs. The unemployment rate could double. We need to focus on that,'' said Marc Miller, the immigration minister and a close friend of Trudeau's.

''I think he's the best to lead us in a very difficult situation. We can't be in a position where the government has no ability to fight back."

Parliament is now shut for the holidays until late next month, but the leftist New Democratic Party said Friday it would trigger a vote of no confidence in Trudeau after lawmakers reconvene on Jan. 27.

Because Trudeau's Liberals do not hold an outright majority in Parliament, they have for years depended on the support of the NDP to pass legislation and stay in power. But that support has vanished — NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has called on Trudeau to resign — and he made clear Friday the NDP will vote to bring down the government.

''No matter who is leading the Liberal Party, this government's time is up. We will put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons,'' Singh said in letter released just before the Cabinet shuffle.

The Liberals could delay Parliament's return. Trudeau could decide not to run in the next year's election and allow for a party leadership race.

Liberal Rob Oliphant became the latest lawmaker to call for the prime minister to step aside, saying there should be a ''robust, open leadership contest.''

Trudeau, who has led the country for nearly a decade, has become widely unpopular in recent years over a wide range of issues, including the high cost of living and rising inflation.

There is no mechanism for Trudeau's party to force him out in the short term. He could say he will step aside when a new party leader is chosen, or his Liberal party could be forced from power by a ''no confidence'' vote in Parliament that would trigger an election that would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said Canada needs an immediate election and requires a prime minister who can face Trump from a position of strength.

''We cannot have a chaotic clown show running our government into the ground,'' he said.

Concerns about Trudeau's leadership were exacerbated Monday when Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau's finance minister and deputy prime minister, resigned from the Cabinet. Freeland was highly critical of Trudeau's handling of the economy in the face of steep tariffs threatened by Trump.

Shortly before Freeland announced her decision, the housing minister also quit.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said Friday's Cabinet reshuffle was necessary because of recent departures but said for many Canadians ''it might simply appear as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.''

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From Liberal Icon to MAGA Joke: The Waning Fortunes of Justin Trudeau

Canada’s prime minister gained global renown 10 years ago for his unabashedly progressive politics. But at home, voters turned sour on him long ago.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada walking to the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Credit... Chris Wattie/Reuters

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By Matina Stevis-Gridneff

Reporting from Toronto

• Dec. 21, 2024 Updated 9:12 a.m. ET

Justin Trudeau’s career is the stuff of 21st-century political drama, with an arc that has taken him from glamorous liberal standard-bearer to the butt of jokes by President-elect Donald J. Trump and his acolytes.

He burst onto the international scene in 2015, a newly elected young leader of Canada whose father had also once been a popular prime minister.

And he spent the next decade building a brand around being a feminist, an environmentalist, a refugee and Indigenous rights advocate, pursuing the same message of change and hope as Barack Obama.

While he drew fawning reviews in the news media — including over his poster boy looks — his honeymoon with Canadians really lasted only about two years; by 2017, a series of controversies had already tarnished his picture-perfect image.

His party went on to lose the popular vote in two elections, in 2019 and 2021, requiring him to form minority governments propped up by a left-wing opposition party. That support, too, has now evaporated .

Today, Mr. Trudeau finds himself — like other Western leaders — facing an angry constituency and losing control.

He will soon either call elections that he’ll most likely lose, or he’ll step down as leader of his party and as prime minister, and let a different leader take the Liberals to the ballot box next year.

In Stephen Maher’s 2024 biography of Mr. Trudeau, the author recalls separate occasions in which Mr. Trudeau’s family members called him a “prince.”

“I’ve always known my whole life that this would be available to me if I want,” Mr. Maher quotes a young Mr. Trudeau as saying about entering politics.

When deciding where to start telling Mr. Trudeau’s political story, chroniclers have several choices.

There’s a 2012 charity boxing match, that he, then a young member of Parliament, won against a tough Conservative who had black belt in karate — people still bring up the fight.

Or the moment, in 2015, when he, as prime minister, unveiled the country’s first gender-balanced cabinet and — asked why this mattered — quipped: “Because it’s 2015.” Male leaders around the world were put on notice.

One might also look back to the eulogy he delivered in 2000 for his father, former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, for an early glimpse of Justin Trudeau the politician.

“We have gathered from coast to coast to coast. From one ocean to another, united in our grief to say goodbye,” Mr. Trudeau, then 29, told a packed cathedral of mourners. “But this is not the end.”

Mr. Trudeau, who turns 53 on Christmas Day, was born while his father was in his first of four terms in office.

The elder Trudeau had swept Canada off its feet in the late 1960s, in what came to be called “Trudeau-mania.” Eventually, voters soured on him too, though he stayed in power for 16 years, and his legacy helped launch his son’s career.

“There was this nostalgia that was associated with the name that really worked for Justin,” said Darrell Bricker, a seasoned pollster and chief executive of Ipsos Public Affairs.

“We were coming out of the time of tempestuous Canadian politics run by a lot of old men,” he added, “and even young men who just seemed old, so Justin was like a breath of fresh air.”

Liberal Icon

The “Because it’s 2015” comment on his cabinet’s gender parity catapulted Mr. Trudeau to global political renown.

Glossy magazines swooned; Vogue ranked him as one of 2015’s 10 “convention-defying hotties,” referring to him as a “Canadian politician-dreamboat.”

One former European leader from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies said early meetings with Mr. Trudeau were marked by people lining up to take selfies with him and treating him like some kind of rock star. The former leader asked not to be identified discussing past diplomatic meetings.

As the United States switched from the Obama to the Trump presidencies in 2016, Mr. Trudeau seemed to offer continuity with Mr. Obama’s politics. Few moments exemplified this more than Mr. Trudeau’s decision to offer refugees an open welcome in 2017, as Mr. Trump cracked down on immigrants.

“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith,” Mr. Trudeau posted on X, then known as Twitter. “Diversity is our strength.”

At the time, Mr. Trump had issued his so-called Muslim ban curtailing travel to the United States for people from some Muslim-majority nations. Mr. Trudeau even went to the airport to personally welcome Syrian refugees arriving in Canada.

Mr. Trudeau was also at the forefront of post-colonial nations reckoning with the legacy of their treatment of Indigenous populations. While Mr. Trudeau has been criticized for not going far enough, it has been during his tenure that a reconciliation with Indigenous populations in Canada began in earnest.

Change All Around

But starting in 2017, his political fortunes at home had already started fading.

As he headed to the polls in 2019, Mr. Trudeau was rocked by scandal, including a luxurious free vacation he took that he failed to declare and videos from the 1990s and 2001 that surfaced showing him dressing up in blackface.

It took a toll : He could secure only a minority government, leaving his party dependent on allies to pass legislation.

And then came the pandemic. Critics describe Mr. Trudeau’s push for restrictive measures as a key reason for the animus against him.

Within two years, in the middle of the pandemic, Mr. Trudeau called an early election believing it might return him to a majority government; he was wrong . He ended up again commanding only a minority of representatives in the House of Commons.

By that point, the Western world’s center of political gravity was already shifting to the right over vaccine and restrictive mandates. In Canada that set off protests in various parts of the country that came to be known as the Freedom Convoy , including weeks of demonstrations in Ottawa, the capital, that paralyzed the city’s downtown.

Canadians found themselves battered by persistent inflation , setting off an affordability crisis, while an open migration policy to bring in workers backfired, turning one of the world’s most immigrant-friendly societies against newcomers .

Mr. Trudeau also faced turmoil on the family front, last year separating from his wife of 18 years, with whom he has three children.

A Walk in the Snow

Mr. Trump’s election victory in November has brought into sharp focus Mr. Trudeau’s weakened position. Mr. Trump has threatened to impose blanket 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, which would devastate Canada economically. Mr. Trump has also been mocking Mr. Trudeau online, referring to him as a governor, and to Canada as the 51st state.

This time a political brand that appears antithetical to Mr. Trump’s isn’t working for Mr. Trudeau. “He caught a wave on his way in, and when you catch a wave, it can lift you up,” Mr. Bricker said. “But on the other side, if you don’t get off, it will ground you.”

With elections required by October because of Canada’s electoral rules, Mr. Trudeau’s departure is increasingly seen as a foregone conclusion. The question is where this leaves his Liberal Party. The latest Ipsos poll, published Friday, found that the Liberals trail the Conservatives by 25 percentage points.

On Monday, his deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned with a bombshell letter , accusing him of engaging in “costly political gimmicks” and being ill-prepared to face the challenge posed by Mr. Trump.

Then on Friday, the opposition party that has propped up his Liberal minority said it would bring a vote of confidence against it after Parliament resumes in January.

“Like most families, sometimes we have fights around the holidays,” Mr. Trudeau mused at a party for Liberal staff in Ottawa on Tuesday, in a nod to Ms. Freeland’s departure. “But of course, like most families, we find our way through it. You know, I love this country, I deeply love this party, I love you guys.”

But the party, like the country, may no longer love him back. Mr. Trudeau’s allies say the prime minister will take time over the holidays to decide his next steps.

A growing chorus is asking Mr. Trudeau to “take a walk in the snow,” a phrase that became part of political lore after his father, in February 1984, facing calls to resign, took a long walk in the snow.

When he came back, he had decided to resign.

Matina Stevis-Gridneff is the Canada bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the country. More about Matina Stevis-Gridneff

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Canada's Prime Minister Faces Calls to Resign. Here's What Could Happen Next

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces growing pressure to resign from his own Liberal Party after his top minister abruptly quit and criticized his handling of the budget

Canada's Prime Minister Faces Calls to Resign. Here's What Could Happen Next

Justin Tang

FILE - Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon depart after Dominic LeBlanc, not shown, was sworn in as Finance Minister during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces growing pressure to resign from his own Liberal Party after his top minister abruptly quit and criticized his handling of the budget. Trudeau has led the country for nearly a decade, but has become widely unpopular in recent years over a wide range of issues, including the high cost of living and rising inflation.

There is no mechanism for Trudeau's party to force him out in the short-term. He could resign, or his party could be forced from power by a “no confidence” vote in Parliament that would trigger an election that would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party.

If his party were to survive a vote in Parliament — which seems increasingly unlikely — Trudeau could choose to stay on as prime minister until there is an election.

As rising numbers of Liberal lawmakers called Tuesday for Trudeau to resign, the country’s minister of natural resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, said “we all need to give him a little time to reflect.”

Here's a deeper look at the possible paths for Trudeau and Canada.

Trudeau could resign and allow other liberals to vie for his office

If Trudeau resigns, which political analysts consider a likely scenario, the Liberals would need to choose an interim prime minister to lead the country at least until elections are held.

It isn't clear yet who the most likely candidate would be for any interim role.

Longer term, a person likely to seek power in the Liberal Party post-Trudeau is Mark Carney , the former head of the Bank of Canada, and later the Bank of England. Carney has long been interested in entering politics and becoming prime minister.

Another possible candidate is Trudeau’s new finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc. The former public safety minister, and a close friend of Trudeau, LeBlanc recently joined the prime minister at a dinner with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Concerns about Trudeau's leadership were exacerbated Monday when Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister, quit his Cabinet. Freeland was highly critical of Trudeau's handling of the economy in the face of steep tariffs threatened by Trump. Shortly before Freeland announced her decision, the country's housing minister also quit.

“My guess is that if another minister or two goes, he’s toast, he will be forced to resign," said Canadian historian Robert Bothwell.

Opposition parties could vote to topple Trudeau's grip on power

With voters deeply unhappy, Parliament has the authority to try to knock Trudeau's Liberal party from power by holding a “no confidence” vote that would trigger an early election. And if a majority of Parliament votes against his government, Trudeau would then be “erased in the election,” Bothwell said.

The walls are rapidly closing in on Trudeau.

Because Liberals don’t hold an outright majority in the Parliament, they have for years depended on the support of the leftist New Democratic Party to pass legislation and stay in power. But that support has all but vanished — the NDP's leader has called on Trudeau to resign — and that clears the way for Parliament to vote “no confidence.”

After Tuesday, Parliament will be shut for the holidays until late next month, and a “no confidence” vote could be scheduled sometime thereafter.

The Conservative Party, which has a commanding lead in the polls over the Liberals, has not publicly called for Trudeau’s resignation. And because of tactics the Liberal Party can deploy to delay a “no confidence” vote, Conservatives might not be able to force one for a couple of months, said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.

A vote of no confidence would trigger an immediate election.

Trudeau could try to hang on to power

The political winds are blowing heavily against Trudeau, but he could theoretically cling to power a while longer.

While a growing number want him to resign, one longtime supporter, Liberal lawmaker James Maloney, said Trudeau has the support of his base in Parliament.

“Like most families, sometimes we have fights around the holidays. But of course, like most families, we find our way through it," Trudeau said. “I love this country. I deeply love this party. I love you guys."

If Trudeau’s Liberal party survives no confidence votes in the coming months — an unlikely scenario — the latest the next federal election could be held is October 20.

The odds of an election much sooner than that have gone up.

“I expect an election in late spring, unless Trudeau decides to dissolves Parliament and dives into an election before then,” said Wiseman.

With Liberals' grip on power fading, experts say the best they can hope for in the next election is to hold the Conservatives to a minority government that will be reliant on other parties to pass legislation. The latest polling from Nanos has the Conservatives leading the Liberals 43% to 23%, suggesting Conservatives could win a majority of the seats.

Copyright 2024 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Justin Trudeau's Offer To Help Kids With Homework Backfires On Twitter

Senior Reporter, HuffPost Canada

A tweet from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Mother’s Day, offering Canadian kids homework help, has churned out thousands of partisan replies.

“Hey kids, I know we’re going through a difficult time right now and it’s not made any easier by the fact that you have to do your homework around the kitchen table,” Trudeau said in a video tweeted Sunday. “I think parents across the country are discovering a new appreciation for the incredible work that teachers do. Well, as a teacher I want to help.”

He invited parents and kids to share with him “really tough” questions.

“My friends and I will be happy to try and help you out because, after all, the way we’re going to get through this is by pulling together.”

Hey parents! If your kids are stuck on a homework question, feel free to pass this message along. Because as a teacher, I want to help out. Let me know what the difficult question is by replying to this tweet or using the hashtag #CanadaHomeworkHelp - and I’ll see what I can do. pic.twitter.com/MivkOaE8KM — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 10, 2020

Some Twitter users managed to connect the prime minister’s offer of homework help during the COVID-19 crisis to wild, false conspiracy theories related to pedophilia .

Others claimed Trudeau’s offer was reminiscent of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, or chose to attack his past career as a drama teacher, and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau.

Twitter users raised divisive issues such as the SNC-Lavalin scandal, gun control, carbon tax, budget deficit and photos of him wearing blackface that surfaced during the 2019 federal election.

Parent here. We’re working on a tough math / social studies question. Why would anyone spend $12.6 billion on a pipeline in the middle of climate emergency? #cdnpoli #CanadaHomeworkHelp https://t.co/aGE9vFG7iW — Derrick O'Keefe (@derrickokeefe) May 10, 2020

Sen. Denise Batters tweeted a a reference to Trudeau’s 2016 trip to billionaire Aga Khan’s island.

When you’re Prime Minister, but you REALLY want a vacay on #BillionaireIsland , is it ok to take a private helicopter? #CanadaHomeworkHelp https://t.co/5rZLN7ayAi — Sen. Denise Batters (@denisebatters) May 10, 2020

Not all the tweets were critical, though. Some users came to Trudeau’s defence, calling the negative responses “sickening,” “despicable” and full of “hate and vitriol.”

The comments on this tweet from anti-Trudeau trolls and bots are sickening. What’s wrong with all of you. — Anne Pratt (@BeesTree) May 10, 2020

The people commenting rudely to this Tweet are just despicable. I feel sorry for their small mindedness, cruelty and pettiness. This is not what my Canada is. Thank you, Prime Minister Trudeau. Be well. — Victoria (@zeebra03) May 10, 2020

👍 Thanks JT, this made me exceptionally proud to be a Canadian!♥️ This also really shows how even when someone is genuinely trying to help, angry, misinformed people will hate & spew vitriol just for the sake of hate & vitriol😔 — JDN (@Justweeterin) May 11, 2020

Really disappointed that twitter cynics (being polite) have taken over the hashtag #CanadaHomeworkHelp . This could have been a supportive, communal exercise. As a librarian, I logged on to see if there were any questions I could provide help with. #ThisIsWhyWeCantHaveGoodThings — Patricia Sutherland (@pasuther) May 10, 2020

My elementary school kid has a lesson for those trolling this hashtag: Before you learn to use social media, you should learn to be a good human. #CanadaHomeworkHelp — ConcernedCdnMom (@ConcernedCdnMom) May 11, 2020

Many parents, who are overseeing their kids’ French, math and science classes during the coronavirus lockdown — topics they admittedly know very little about — thought #CanadaHomeworkHelp was a good idea.

Realizing you are getting trolled for this, but my kid thought this was cool of you, so thanks:). And he may be sending you regular questions himself this week. All the questions. Sorry about that! — angela auclair (@angfromthedock) May 10, 2020

Any tips for anxious kids and public (video call) speaking? I have third grader dreading giving a book talk. #CanadaHomeworkHelp — Mel Redford (@moholier) May 10, 2020

Some Canadians even seemed genuinely grateful for the offer in the midst of a pandemic.

To understand the desperation of the @CPC_HQ & #Conservatives , read the awful responses to a wonderful message to kids in a time of crisis. To see how some people respond with vitriol to kindness runs contrary to the general awesomeness of Canadians. #cdnpoli #CanadaHomeworkHelp https://t.co/FoAfSu9Yfn — Taleeb Noormohamed (@Taleeb) May 11, 2020

I have no homework question but just wanted to let you know that I have never been prouder to be Canadian than when I see you at 11-11:15 am each day to help and guide the country and each of us thru this terrible pandemic. You are doing a magnificent job! Respect!! — Michael Supreme (@MichaelSawer) May 10, 2020

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'world's sexiest footballer' shares cheeky pic from maldives while leaving star boyfriend behind, paulina gretzky shares sultry snaps from martini-filled birthday party, $4-million worth of cars recovered, over 100 charges laid in alleged car theft ring, matt murray's winning return to leafs aided by video reviews and a sharp-eyed linesman, lilley: trudeau's internet bill would take canadians off the web.

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The backlash against Bill C-10 is being driven by the prospect of the government having the power to regulate cat videos and any other user generated content posted to Facebook or TikTok — but the problems with this bill run much deeper.

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Fundamentally, this bill will change your entire online experience.

LILLEY: Trudeau's internet bill would take Canadians off the web Back to video

Users of music streaming services such as Spotify, the audio book service Audible, or even casual viewers of YouTube could see major changes to their experience. Despite paying for these services, requirements could easily be imposed by government appointees to force Canadian content requirements on these services.

Imagine finishing an audio book and not being allowed to listen to another one until you’ve selected an appropriate, government-approved book to listen to. Imagine having Canadian songs inserted into the playlist of a service you pay for because the government says you must listen to and support this music.

It’s right in the legislation where the stated goal of the bill is laid out, “add online undertakings — undertakings for the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet — as a distinct class of broadcasting undertakings.” Doing this would put any online audio or video service under the auspices of the CRTC, which is given power by this act to determine “the proportion of programs to be broadcast that shall be Canadian programs.”

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So suddenly, what you can watch on YouTube is restricted in order to ensure there is enough Canadian content posted for Canadian users of the site.

In many ways, what the Trudeau Liberals are trying to do is take the internet experience that we now have and replace it with one more akin to AOL in the mid-90s. For people who don’t remember AOL, it was an online service but it wasn’t the world wide web — it was whatever AOL decided was appropriate for you to experience within their walled garden.

Now the government wants to decide what is appropriate.

Enjoy listening to popular podcasts such as Joe Rogan or Adam Carolla? You likely won’t be able to access them inside Canada in the future if this bill passes because podcasts will be subject to CRTC regulations and so will the services that provide them. Apple Podcasts or Stitcher will simply limit what content is available in order to make sure they don’t violate government rules.

In the future we will also likely see new products bypass Canada rather than try to comply with these regulations. When the next hot app like Clubhouse comes along, instead of Canadians being able to participate, we will be left out.

Existing products currently offered to Canadians by some of the web giants that the government appears to be at war with may disappear if the cost of complying with the regulations outweighs the benefits of being in the small market that is Canada.

I’m sure the government will offer grant money for Canadian tech wizards to develop Canadian versions of popular apps but that just bring us back to that walled garden approach. We won’t have the world wide web in Canada anymore, we will have what Justin Trudeau decides we can have access to.

There are a lot of people upset at the idea of the government regulating user generated content, effectively curating their social media feeds, and that is a good thing. But the truth is, the entire premise of this bill should be rejected by anyone who wants a free and open internet in Canada.

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Housing crisis, economic woes and Trump: How Canada cooled to immigration

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller are joined by fellow members of Parliament as they hold a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada long sold itself as a beacon for immigrants, who were widely viewed as key to economic growth in a vast nation with a small and rapidly aging workforce.

“Study, work and stay” was the slogan of a government campaign to lure international students, part of a broader push that included recruiting temporary workers and resettling refugees. After President Trump banned travel to the U.S. from several Muslim-majority countries in 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada’s doors were open.

“To those fleeing persecution, terror and war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith,” he wrote on the platform now known as X. “Diversity is our strength.”

But in recent months, Canada has changed course.

For the first time in a quarter-century, a majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration. Hate crimes are on the rise, along with rhetoric blaming newcomers for the country’s economic woes.

Under fire for admitting record numbers of migrants, Trudeau’s government recently slashed the annual total allowed into the country. It also announced a plan to beef up security along the U.S. border.

“The reality is that not everyone is welcome here,” Canada’s immigration minister declared last month.

The abrupt about-face has scrambled life for hundreds of thousands of migrants who came here and planned to stay. And it puts Canada in the company of the United States and many countries in Europe that have seen a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment and policy in recent years.

In Canada, a nation of 41 million where 2 in 5 people are either immigrants or children of one, the debate has triggered an identity crisis, with a surge in xenophobia that is out of sync with the country’s reputation as a place that is welcoming to newcomers.

“We are known as the nice guys, right? That’s the Canadian trope,” said Gurpartap Singh Toor, a council member in the immigrant-heavy city of Brampton, outside Toronto. “There are a lot of people asking, ‘What happened to us as a country?’”

Many point to rising costs and Canada’s long-standing housing crisis — and a new breed of political leaders eager to blame migrants for those problems.

Others cite the influence of Trump, who as he prepares to return to the White House has promoted anti-migrant ideas, and who recently threatened to tax imports from Canada unless the country tightens its border.

“When you have the most powerful person on the planet talking about closing borders and talking about immigrants in a very derogatory way, you’re emboldening a lot of people to go down the same path,” Toor said.

Maxime Bernier, the leader of the far-right People’s Party, which has called for a moratorium on immigration in Canada, also said the U.S. president-elect had made anti-immigrant sentiment more acceptable.

“It’s the start of a new era in Western countries,” Bernier said. “And Trump has catalyzed that.”

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises in the House of Commons during Question Period in Ottawa, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)

Inside a meeting hall for the Royal Canadian Legion, a few dozen members were waiting out a snowy afternoon playing card games and snacking from a box of Tim Horton doughnuts.

Chris Woodcock, 75, and Sandy Furloch, 70, were debating a topic that comes up frequently these days: immigration.

“There’s just too many of them,” Woodcock, a retired factory worker, said of immigrants. “It’s not really fair to the people who are born and raised here.”

Canada’s economy has been sluggish in recent years, with unemployment at nearly 7%. Woodcock’s family was suffering: One of his sons couldn’t afford his own place and had to move back home, and the other had seen his hours cut at an auto parts factory.

Woodcock also complained about the demographics in Toronto, where about 1 in 2 residents is an immigrant. “You walk into a store and look around and you’re the only white person,” he said.

Furloch shook her head. She said she thought that Canada’s multiculturalism was “beautiful,” and that a certain level of immigration was necessary. “We don’t procreate enough to keep our population up,” she said. “Who’s gonna do the farming?”

Still, Furloch said that in recent years she had become convinced that too many people had entered the country too quickly. “We need more vetting,” she said.

Canada, which is the second biggest country in the world in land area and one of the most sparsely populated, was built by immigration.

In the centuries after colonization by France and Britain, the government recruited migrants to settle rural corners of its sprawling landscape. For many years, white Europeans were given a preference. But by the 1970s, race-based discrimination in immigration policy had largely ended, and most people entering Canada were from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

The government’s reliance on immigration to spur economic growth accelerated in with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Canada admitted nearly 3 million people in three years. The influx of temporary workers, international students and refugees helped the economy recover in the short term — and helped push the country’s population from 38 million to 41 million.

But local governments, which are responsible for health, housing and education, were not prepared. Already high housing costs skyrocketed, and it became harder to see a family doctor.

Just five years after a 2019 Gallup study named Canada the most accepting country for immigrants, polls today show that views have shifted dramatically, with an increasing number of Canadians expressing concern about the number of newcomers, the government’s ability to provide for them and how well immigrants are integrating into society.

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talk prior to a NATO round table meeting at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, Dec. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

Migrant advocates say public opinion has been shaped by far-right firebrands like Bernier, who has said immigrants represent a threat to “our values and way of life,” and more mainstream opposition leaders, such as Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who has described the country’s immigration system as “out of control” and “chaos.”

Polls show the Conservatives are poised to win a majority of parliamentary seats in the country’s next election.

Political experts say Trudeau, of Canada’s Liberal Party, is trying to win back voters with his new immigration plan , which calls for the number of people granted permanent residency to be slashed by nearly 20% next year, and many fewer temporary workers and international students to be allowed in.

“In the tumultuous times as we emerged from the pandemic, between addressing labor needs and maintaining population growth, we didn’t get the balance right,” Trudeau said, explaining the cuts. “Immigration is essential for Canada’s future, but it must be controlled and it must be sustainable.”

Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said immigrants were being scapegoated for the failures of government.

Canada has not built enough homes in recent years, and everyday buyers must compete with wealthy private investment firms. The average price of a home has soared nearly 50% since 2018.

The country’s medical system has also been strained for years, with a growing shortage of family doctors.

“It’s an intent to distract working people from holding the government and big business responsible,” Hussan said. “Everyone is struggling to pay the bills, and they want to know who’s to blame, and they’re being told that it is the foreigner.”

Asylum-seekers try to beat a deadline to cross the border at Roxham Road from New York into Canada, March 24, 2023, in Champlain, N.Y. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a plan to close a loophole to an immigration agreement that allowed thousands of asylum-seeking immigrants to use a back road linking New York state to the Canadian province of Quebec. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)

For migrants already in the country, the changes have triggered vast uncertainty. Millions of temporary work permits for students and temporary laborers are set to expire in the coming years, and paths to permanent residency have suddenly narrowed.

Enrique García and his family moved from Mexico City to Toronto this year so that his wife could enroll in an MBA program. International students pay as much as five times as their Canadian counterparts, money that universities have used to fill reserves and build new infrastructure. Tuition ate up much of the couple’s savings, but they saw it as an investment in Canadian citizenship.

Then overnight, the rules had changed — and international students no longer had an easy track to citizenship.

“It’s not a sure thing anymore,” said García, 49.

A weak economy has made things harder.

In four months, García, who worked as an insurance agent in Mexico, has applied to more than 100 jobs. But not even McDonald’s has called him, and his wife’s part-time gig washing dishes in a restaurant barely covers the $2,500 they pay each month in rent for an apartment infested with bedbugs.

He said he is thankful to be in Canada, where his daughters are enrolled in a good public school and the streets feel safer than in Mexico. But on a recent chilly morning, as he stood in line for groceries at a food bank, he seemed dejected.

“It’s been a lot more complicated than I thought,” he said.

Teresa Andrade, 47, started working as a nanny in Toronto in 2019. During rare free moments, she called the Philippines, helping her five children there complete their homework or celebrate birthdays.

Being apart from them was a painful sacrifice, but the promise of Canadian residency for her and eventually her children seemed worth it.

“I was told that they were giving permanent residency here,” she said. “We were always told Canada was the land of dreams.”

Over the summer, Trudeau government officials announced that it would give migrant caregivers a pathway to residency. But in the months since, the government has gone silent — and meanwhile has announced cuts to the number of new residents.

“I’m so disappointed,” Andrade said. “We’re not bad people, and we’re already here.”

Yvonne Su, director of the Center for Refugee Studies at York University in Toronto, said it was clear that Trudeau had “let in too many people.”

But it was cruel, she said, to deny those already in the country the chance to stay.

“We went to the world, we asked them to come, and they came,” she said. “Then we decided there were too many? We used them.”

She has tracked a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment online, where videos of Canadians making racist statements have proliferated, as well as in the real world, where reports of hate crimes more than doubled between 2019 to 2023.

Meanwhile, immigrant leaders say there has been an uptick in suicides among international students who went into debt to pay their tuition, and now see little opportunity to recoup that money in Canada.

Su, who was born in China and moved with her family to a small town in Ontario as a child, said the current moment is exposing anti-immigrant attitudes that have long simmered under the surface. She mentioned her parents’ longtime neighbors, who always seemed nice enough, but who privately complained that her father spoke in Chinese too loudly.

“There’s always been that quiet Canadian racism,” she said.

Significantly, the movement to restrict immigration is supported by many immigrants themselves.

Among them is John Ede, 45, who moved from Nigeria to Vancouver to get a masters degree in public policy and global affairs in 2017. Angered by vaccine mandates during the pandemic, he found himself drawn to the far-right People’s Party, which opposed Canada’s COVID-19 public health policies.

Ede also found himself agreeing with the party’s stance on immigration: that the number of new immigrants be vastly reduced, and those living in the country on expired visas be deported. He will stand as a candidate for Parliament for the party in the next elections.

He said people often question his anti-immigrant turn, but that to him it makes practical sense.

“Imagine that you escaped a shipwreck because of overcrowding,” he said. “Now you make it on another ship to save your life, and you see that the new ship is running the same course of the one you abandoned. You have a real incentive to shout and say, ‘You know what? I’ve seen this before.’”

“I have a motivation to protect this country that has invited me in and to ensure that its economic and social and political constructions remain intact,” Ede said. “I have a duty to protect this beacon.”

Bell: Trudeau's ego can't shuffle Canada out of the chaos he created

'Let's pull the plug and solve this once and for all," says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, wanting an immediate federal election

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When Premier Danielle Smith looks at Ottawa this time, as the federal Liberals desperately try to regroup, she sees “somebody who is trying to shuffle their way out of chaos.”

That somebody is the embattled and wildly unpopular Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“You can’t do that. The only way you can solve this kind of chaos is to get a mandate. It is to have an election.”

Not a change of leader, shuffling those deck chairs of the Liberal Titanic when the ship is already sinking to the bottom.

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The Alberta premier sees Trudeau limping along, flailing, clinging to his office, even losing the support of supporters.

Smith realizes with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump breathing down our necks, threatening a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods going stateside, it is not the absolute best time for an election.

But she far prefers the leader of the country having the support of the people of this country at the ballot box and the strength to go to the bargaining table with the Americans.

If Trudeau actually believes he has the backing of Canadians, delusional as that belief is, then go to the people.

The prime minister should prove he has their support.

Fighting a “ crushing tariff” on Canadian goods is “more important than Justin Trudeau’s ego. We have to make sure we’re putting the country first.”

“Put the politics aside and do what’s best for the country.

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“If they can’t prove it and there is a change of government, we’ll be much better shape.”

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Smith says what she is really worried about is seeing delay after delay after delay.

“He’s done this game before,” says the premier.

The playbook?

He gets bawled out by Liberal members of parliament, says he’s going to reflect, takes a few weeks off and then pretends nothing ever happened.

“I suspect he thinks that the same thing is going to happen this time. Let’s pull the plug and solve this once and for all.

“I think there’s a real danger if this just drags on and on and on for months when we’re right in the middle of a very serious threat from a biggest trading partner, the United States.”

How bad are things? Smith says the premiers are doing their best to deal with the Americans in these trying times.

But they are, more or less, on their own.

“The reason why I’ve had to take our argument to the Americans is I don’t trust the federal government is organized enough to be able to do it,” says Smith.

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“They are so enraptured with their internal turmoil they’re not taking care of the basics.”

Smith would like to see the Trudeau government’s plans on the tariff front.

“They don’t seem to be that interested in governing. They don’t seem to be that interested in communicating their strategy with the premiers.

“They don’t seem to be that interested in going to an election.

“It’s leaving everybody exposed to what could be a devastating tariff threat. We’re sleepwalking into it because everybody is trying to save Trudeau’s ego.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has propped up Trudeau and his Liberal government time and time and time again.

Now that the federal politicians have gone home Singh tells Canadians in an open letter how he will v ote to deep-six the Trudeau government in the next sittin g of the House of Commons.

Smith is not impressed.

“He has been standing beside Trudeau through every misstep, every failure, every harm he’s caused the Canadian people,” she says.

“The NDP are just as culpable and just as responsible for the mess we find in Ottawa. Make no mistake, this Liberal-NDP coalition has been devastating for this country.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who says the prime minister is “egomaniacally” holding onto power even though 80 per cent of Canadians want to punt him, writes the Governor General confirming 70 per cent of parliamentarians do not have confidence in Trudeau.

Poilievre asks for the MPs to be brought back to Ottawa for a non-confidence vote, followed by an election.

“We cannot have a chaotic clown show running our government into the ground.”

Alas, methinks the clowns will star in a few more episodes.

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