On January 6, 2025, Justin Trudeau announced his intention to resign.
“I intend to resign as party leader—as prime minister—after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide competitive process. Last night, I asked the president of the Liberal Party to begin that process,” Trudeau said.[i]
Trudeau announced that he shut down Parliament until March 24 to keep Pierre Poilievre and the other opposition parties from toppling his minority government – something that opposition parties agree must happen as soon as possible.
“I advised the Governor General that we need a new session of parliament. She has granted this request, and the House will now be prorogued until March 24.”[ii]
“Trudeau owed the country better than this self-obsessed and prolonged walk in the snow,” wrote Andrew MacDougall.[iii]
“The country needed its prime minister to put the needs of Canadians ahead of his own,” he wrote.
“Only that’s not Justin Trudeau’s game. It never was, no matter how many times he cried telling us about how much he loves Canada.”
With prorogation, Poilievre’s earliest opportunity to force a federal election is delayed for another two months.
What does Trudeau’s Resignation-Not-Resignation Mean for Gun Owners?
Not much.
Justin Trudeau says he will resign at some point in the future but that does not mean his Liberal gun confiscation scheme will go away when he does.
Although Trudeau shut down Parliament, prorogation changes nothing for the bureaucracy.
Gun banning bureaucrats will carry on as usual. Their roles are completely unaffected by the political storm swirling around the Ottawa bubble.
New Orders in Council can be published. The Liberal government can ban more of your legally acquired firearms. They can also add more magazine restrictions, as they promised before Christmas.
“The government continues to publish new regulations or other updates as required even without Parliament sitting. In sum, the government’s regulatory authority continues unabated.”[iv]
In short, nothing changes for us. The government is still coming for our firearms, while ignoring illegal guns in the hands of drug dealers, gang members and other violent criminals.
We, as firearms owners, can never forget two fundamental facts.
- Confiscating legally-owned firearms from licensed owners is bedrock Liberal Party Policy. That Trudeau is about to step down does not change this fact.
- The gun confiscation process is no longer in the hands of politicians, it’s firmly in the hands of government bureaucrats.
Bureaucracies are like trains.
While it takes a massive amount of energy to get a train moving, once that train reaches cruising speed its momentum is very hard to stop.
Canada’s gun confiscation bureaucracy, despite all the negative press surrounding confiscations, is a train with a massive amount of internal momentum.
The Liberal confiscation process will not stop unless there is a change in government and, even then, it will take intense, swift, and intentional effort from a new (likely Conservative) Prime Minister to derail Justin Trudeau’s firearms confiscation train.
Liberal Leadership Race Begins
Speculation is that this leadership contest could be one of the shortest in Liberal Party history, with a new party leader – and a new, unelected Prime Minister – will take office on March 24th.
That new Prime Minister would then introduce this year’s budget in a new session of Parliament, and the vote on that budget – a confidence motion – will bring down the Liberal government and force a federal election this spring.
Many pundits expressed their doubts that the Liberal Party can complete an leadership contest by the March 24th deadline, which could mean a leaderless Liberal party goes into the next federal election.
“None of the Above” is Bad News for Liberal Leadership Hopefuls
A July 24, 2024, Nanos Poll showed that one quarter of Canadians chose “none of the above” as their first choice for Liberal Party leader.[v]
Not much has changed from July 2024 to today.
“None of the Above” still ranks higher than any of the potential Liberal leadership candidates, according to the latest Nanos poll taken on January 5th.[vi]
“None of the above” is not good news for the Liberal Party.
It’s an indictment of Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government’s endless scandals, ethics violations, and corruption.
After a decade of bad behaviour, Canadians are finally fed up with the Liberal Party and don’t care who becomes its next leader.
This failure is Justin Trudeau’s legacy.
He successfully took the Liberal Party, third in Parliamentary seat count in 2013, from obscurity to government.
Justin Trudeau will now leave the Liberal Party exactly as he found it in 2013 – rudderless, clueless and abandoned by the majority of Canadians.
Potential Leadership Candidates
Frank Baylis, a former Liberal MP, told reporters he intended to run to replace Trudeau.
“I intend to run, but I’ll formally announce when the rules are out,” he said. “But, yes, it’s my intention to run. I am running.”[vii]
“So far, no other contenders have thrown their hat into the Liberal ring,” noted The Globe and Mail in Wednesday’s Morning Update.
Some of the people widely expected to step into the leadership contest are:
- Mark Carney: Former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Carney is considering a leadership bid.
Pictures of him standing beside Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, published by The Counter Signal in a January 7th email, may affect Carney’s decision. - Chrystia Freeland: Former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister
- François-Philippe Champagne: Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
- Jonathan Wilkinson: Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
- Christy Clark: Former Premier of British Columbia, has indicated she has “never closed the door on the possibility of one day returning to politics,” suggesting potential interest in the leadership.
- Mélanie Joly: Minister of Foreign Affairs.
- Anita Anand: Minister of Transport and Internal Trade.
Past Liberal Leadership Contests
Over the past three decades, the Liberal Party conducted five leadership contests, ranging from 5 to 11 months in duration.
This leadership contest is expected to be much shorter, with the winner being announced in time for Parliament to resume on March 14, 2025.
- The 2013 Liberal Leadership Contest, caused by the resignation of former Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff, lasted 11 months before crowning Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader.[viii]
- The 2009 contest lasted 6 months. When Stéphane Dion resigned in October 2008, Michael Ignatieff was appointed interim leader in December and was acclaimed as the permanent leader at the Party’s May 2009 convention.[ix]
- When Paul Martin resigned after his defeat in the January 2006 federal election, a 6-month leadership contest culminated with Stéphane Dion as party leader.
- In 2003, a 7-month leadership contest, caused by Jean Chrétien’s resignation in August 2002, led to Paul Martin being named Liberal Party leader.
In 1990, John Turner’s resignation allowed Jean Chrétien to take over the party. In the previous leadership contest, Chrétien placed second, behind Turner.
[i] https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/full-text-canada-pm-justin-trudeau-says-he-will-step-down-2025-01-06/
[ii] ibid
[iii] https://www.readtheline.ca/p/andrew-macdougall-trudeau-puts-himself
[iv] https://mcmillanvantage.com/2025/01/06/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-prime-ministers-resignation-and-prorogation/
[v] https://nanos.co/a-quarter-of-canadians-say-none-of-the-potential-liberal-leader-candidates-appeal-to-them-carney-tops-list-after-none-of-the-above-ctv-news-nanos/
[vi] https://nanos.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2024-2758-CTV-Dec-Populated-report-Powerplay.pdf
[vii] https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2025/01/06/businessman-and-former-liberal-mp-baylis-first-out-of-the-gate-announcing-bid-for-liberal-leadership/446742/
[viii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Liberal_Party_of_Canada_leadership_election
[ix] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Liberal_Party_of_Canada_leadership_election
