Transcript of Will Trudeau Resign? Canada’s Leadership in Jeopardy | 12.22.24

Last week, Canada's Finance Minister and one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's closest allies resigned, sending shockwaves throughout Parliament. Krista Freeland's resignation caused a chain reaction of Parliament members demanding that the Prime Minister resign. In this episode, we speak with Heritage Foundation Vice President for National Security and Foreign Policy, Victoria Coates, about the uphill battle Trudeau faces and what comes next. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief, John Bickley. It's December 22nd, and this is a Sunday edition of Morning Wire.

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Joining us now is Victoria Coates, Vice President of National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. Victoria, quite a bit of chaos happening in Canada. First off, Krista Freeland, Canada's Finance Minister, resigned this last week. How significant is that and what does her departure suggest about the internal fractures within the Liberal Party?

It's a really chaotic situation, and your listeners will be forgiven. There are so many. We have South Korea, we have Japan, we have Germany, we have France. All of these governments are falling into chaos, largely because their populations feel the governments are not responding to the issues that are important to them, and particularly in Canada. Prime Minister Trudeau, who has been the card-carrying for a woke liberal agenda, very extreme policies on immigration, on gender issues. All of these things has become deeply unpopular to the point of 23% popularity, which is pretty bad. As you said, Christa Freeland, their finance minister and deputy prime minister, has resigned, essentially based on the catastrophic economic situation. I think you're seeing the liberal party really fall apart.

What is the catastrophic financial situation in Canada?

Well, I think this has all come from very liberal economic policies of Prime Minister Trudeau, where the currency is depreciating dramatically. He is prioritizing DEI issues, for example, going very heavily into a extreme green agenda, all of which is disastrous for Canada's economy. Bear in mind, Canada is one of the world's great energy producers. Quietly behind the scenes, Canadian Conservatives have been saying, Hey, why aren't we selling more oil to the United States? Why Why aren't we refining together? Why aren't we developing our natural resources? I think the Canadian people realize there's a much more productive relationship, particularly with the United States, if we have new leadership in both countries that aren't as committed to an extreme green agenda.

Now, a lot of people are pointing to Trump's return to power as one of the factors that's causing some of this turmoil in Canada, particularly relating to his tariff threats. Is there any truth to that?

I think that's very real, and I'm calling it the Trump effect. It is something that seems to be impacting almost the entire globe. But in this case, there has been an uneven playing field between Canada and the United States. And while USMCA is an improvement on the old NAFTA deal, it has not completely leveled the field. I think that's what President Trump was saying. The impact of that on Canada's economy would be devastating. I think that's why you saw Prime Minister Trudeau hightail it down to Mar-a-Lago last week to try to talk President Trump out of that position. You had the President offer to make Canada the 51st state and started to refer to him as Governor Trudeau, which was pretty hilarious, but very much, I think, an indicator that the United States is the big brother in this relationship. Under President Trump, we're not going to be taken advantage of anymore.

Justin Trudeau's popularity, you mentioned, is at an all-time low. You did mention that there's some economic factors there contributing. What other issues are leading to his unpopular? Is it primarily just the depreciating dollar or what else is going on?

I think economic is king in these situations that when you have a suffering economy, you have inflation, you have increasing energy prices, you're going to just have overall unhappiness. Then the threat of increasing economic woes because of Trudeau's policies personalize this. I think from what I've seen from a lot of Canadians online is they feel like he is very aligned with the global elitist class that consider themselves the betters of Canada and aren't paying attention to the issues that matter to Canadians. I think that's very much the sentiment we got from the recent US election. I think this is an opportunity because the conservative Party is led by a politician named Pierre Poilevre, who is a much more staunched, rock-ribbed, conservative in the tradition of Stephen Harper and other great Canadian leaders who I think would be a super partner for President Trump. So the Canadian election isn't necessarily going to happen before next October, which is when they have to do it. But the situation is certainly very fluid. So Prime Minister could resign at any time, call for a snap election. So that could happen sooner rather than later.

Now, what motivation would Trudeau have to actually resign?

I think if he feels like the situation is untenable, that he is facing so much non-confidence, he can't get anything done. If he has additional resignations in his government and he can't find people to replace them, He may realize that the writing is on the wall. He might also hope for a Hall Mary, that maybe the people who have been voting for him for loathings many years might come out again and give him another term. We've seen that attempted before. It rarely works, but doesn't stop people from trying. So all of those factors could contribute to a resignation. But as I said, I think it's more likely he tries to limp along as long as he can.

Now, we recently saw Trudeau visit Mar-a-Lago and be somewhat deferential to Trump. Is that a good strategy for him with regards to his relationship with the US, or is that just going to weaken him further?

No, I think it's maybe his only strategy. He realizes Trump is coming back. He realizes that Trump has a lot of problems with what they've been doing economically. I think this was his attempt to mend bridges. I think, unfortunately, that's simply not going to work. I don't think he is capable of implementing the sweeping conservative reforms that would be required to evade those Trump tariffs. And return, as I said, to a level playing field. I, unfortunately, don't think that was much more than an exercise in ritual self-humiliation.

Now, opposition leader Pierre Polyev is gaining momentum all while Trudeau craters. What do you think his chances are in the event of a vote?

Oh, I think if a vote was called, the conservative Party would win handily. He's about 20 points up on Trudeau, so that points to a pretty sweeping victory. Paulieuvre is a very compelling politician, growing in popularity. It seems like the next new thing Trudeau is increasingly yesterday's news. So I'm pretty optimistic about their chances if a vote is called.

Now, the housing shortage in Canada was voted the most consequential story of 2024 by Canadian press outlets. How big is the crisis there in Canada and how is it shaping the discontent?

Well, I think it's for many of the same reasons. The policies that Trudeau has espoused are these, what you might call anti-human and anti-growth, very extreme carbon pricing schemes, which is all based on what I think are illusory climate targets, and it's driving up prices for commodities that go into housing very dramatically. I think that is a fundamental economic problem that goes with the others that we've been discussing that just have tanked his popularity. Again, I think this is the same lesson we had from November fifth here in the United States, that the insistence on climate change as the most existential threat to the United States or to Canada just simply isn't resonating with voters. They don't want to live this way. They want a plentiful, affordable energy. They want readily available, affordable housing. I mean, these are pretty basic needs that this extreme agenda related to climate issues is making untenable.

All right, well, Victoria, thank you so much for coming on.

Absolutely a pleasure. Thank you, Georgia.

That was Victoria Coates, Vice President of National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. This has been a Sunday edition MorningWire.