OTTOWA (Axios) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned from party leadership Monday, leaving a vacancy at the top of the Liberal Party.
The future leader, who will also become prime minister, will navigate rising tensions between the U.S. and Canada.
Trudeau, whose approval ratings plummeted, has led the Liberal Party for 11 years and been the country’s prime minister for nine.
Candidates will be chosen via a national leadership contest, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Party president Sachit Mehra said he’d call a meeting this week to begin the process.
Candidates must be registered Liberals and be qualified to run for office in a general federal election, per CBC. The Canadian parliament will be prorogued, or suspended, until March 24 while the Liberal Party chooses a new leader.
Five names are being mentioned as likely contenders to replace Trudeau:
Chrystia Freeland, the former deputy prime minister of Canada unexpectedly resigned in December after finding herself “at odds about the best path forward for Canada” with Trudeau, she said.
She’s one of the most well-known members of Trudeau’s team, and her public resignation letter put pressure on him, the BBC reported.
She served as Canada’s minister of foreign affairs and minister of finance prior to her resignation.
Mélanie Joly, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, has handled diplomatic stresses specific to Canada, the New York Times reported, including a rift with China and accusations related to the Indian government.
Trudeau included Joly in a revived Cabinet committee on U.S. relations after President-elect Trump’s win.
She calls her approach “pragmatic diplomacy,” including working with countries that Canada doesn’t see eye-to-eye with.
Finance minister Dominic LeBlanc replaced Freeland hours after her resignation and is one of Trudeau’s closest allies, per the BBC.
He previously ran to lead the party in 2008. He accompanied Trudeau to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in November.
LeBlanc used to babysit Trudeau and his siblings, and his father served as a minister in Trudeau’s father’s cabinet when he was prime minister.
Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, had been pursued privately by Trudeau to take over Freeland’s position as minister of finance, per the New York Times.
Carney has been calling Liberal members of parliament to ask for their support should be run for leadership, the Toronto Star reported.
His 2022 book, “Values,” argues that radical change is needed in the economy to handle growing inequality.
Transport minister Anita Anand is a “more ambitious” member of the Liberal caucus, per the BBC.
Her background is in financial market regulation and corporate governance. In federal government, she’s previously overseen public services and procurement, defense and the Treasury Board.