Brajesh Upadhyay
BBC News, Washington

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation as the party leader, and will leave the office of prime minister once a new leader of the ruling Liberal party is chosen.

Here’s a recap of what happened today:

• Trudeau said "this country deserves a real choice" at the next election, adding that internal battles in the party had made it impossible for him to face off against his political rivals.
• The prime minister had been under growing pressure from within his party and elsewhere to step down.
• He has announced that the parliament will be now prorogued until 24 March, which means parliament's operations are frozen for the next two and a half months.
• The Liberal Party president, Sachit Mehra, said he will convene a meeting of the National Board this week to select a new leader.
• Here’s a list of probables who might replace Trudeau.
• You can also read about his resignation and the reactions to it here.

This is the end of our live coverage. Thank you for joining us and, as this story evolves in the coming days and months, be sure to check back for the latest.

Kody Blois, a Liberal who has served as member of Parliament since 2019, has just told the BBC's World News Tonight that Trudeau had to resign from his position because of Canadians' fatigue with him.

Blois pointed to Trudeau's nine-year tenure, which he describes "as a long time in any modern political reality".

"He was in the media and the public eye a lot and a lot of my constituents - yes they may have certain concerns around policy agenda - but largely I think it just became a bit of fatigue with the Prime Minister himself,” he said.

While Trudeau has been "consequential", Canada needs a "leadership renewal", Blois added.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, known for promoting Indigenous rights, has issued a statement responding to Trudeau's decision to resign.

“During his decade in office, Prime Minister Trudeau has taken meaningful steps to address issues that matter to First Nations," wrote Nepinak, who worked on Trudeau's campaign.

Nepinak praised Trudeau's leadership for his work on clean water, housing, education and child welfare. She also nodded to the passing of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which aligned Canadian law with the rights and self-determination of First Nations.

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

Trudeau's resignation comes at a time of instability in Canada.

In two short weeks, Donald Trump will be sworn-in as US president.

It's a date closely being watched in Canada, as Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian goods - something viewed by economists as likely devastating for the trade-reliant country - unless Canada shores up security at its southern border.

This threat of tariffs may have triggered the beginning of the end to Trudeau's leadership. His deputy resigned from her post citing the prime minister's perceived failure to not take that threat seriously - despite Trudeau traveling to Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago home to press Canada's case.

Canada has also committed a number of initiatives to improve security along the US-Canada border, though it's not clear that will be enough to avert Trump's levy.

The two neighbours have a deeply entwined economic and trade relationship.

Canadian officials have also been lobbying American lawmakers about the value of free trade between both nations - US goods and services trade with Canada totaled an estimated $908.9bn in 2022, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Experts warn that Canada's economic growth is already slowing and it is in a poor position to absorb shocks.

Also in question is the future of United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The three trade partners will decide in 2026 whether to extend the pact for another 16 years.

John Sudworth
Reporting from Ottawa

As a small group protests outside the PM's office, a few bemused passers-by are looking on.

Among them is Hames Gamarra, from Burnaby in British Columbia, here with his young daughter. They're visiting Ottawa for a few days.

“What’s happening?” he asks me. “Trudeau’s resigned,” I reply. “Oh, that’s politics,” he shoots back with a laugh.

Hames tells me he’d voted for Trudeau once before and, on balance, thinks things have been OK on his watch.

“I’m a carpenter,” he says. “I mind my own business, I get my wages, I pay the bills. It’s been ok.”

But Marise Cassivi is a local, from half-an-hour's drive away in Cantley, Quebec. She’s heard the news already and is pleased.

“We were waiting and hoping for his resignation,” she tells me. “Why?” I ask. “Because of what’s going on in our country,” she responds.

“With his tax cuts before Christmas even my 16-year-old daughter said it’s very bad.”

I ask her if she feels it’s the end of an era.

“Oui!” she says definitively.

Any hint of sadness?

“No,” she says. “It’s the right thing.”

John Sudworth
Reporting from Ottawa

On the steps of the Prime Minister’s office in Ottawa a small group of protesters have gathered.

They’re not fans of Trudeau.

Waving Canadian flags, they’re dancing to the song Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye and telling anyone who’ll listen about their long list of grievances.

Image source, Getty Images

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre just spoke to reporters on Air Force One and called Trudeau a "stalwart" friend of the United States.

She said the Biden administration had worked with Trudeau on a range of issues as close allies and members of the G7.

"The president is grateful for the prime minister's partnership on all of that and for his commitment to defending North America from the geopolitical threats of the 21st century and the work we have done together to sustain North America's status as the world's most economically competitive region," she said.

Holly Honderich
BBC News, Toronto

Justin Trudeau's resignation today brought a stunning end to a gifted politician's tenure who in 2015 carried the Liberal party from third to first place, a feat that won him his first federal election.

But a series of ethics scandals early on began to take the sheen off his new government - he was found to have violated federal conflict of interest rules in the handling of a corruption inquiry – the SNC-Lavalin affair - and for luxury trips to the Bahamas.

He weathered the crises and held on for two more federal elections, but his staying power finally seemed compromised in the latest term. Polls showed his popularity plummet amid compounding affordability and housing crises, while his minority government struggled to maintain control in Parliament.

Trudeau batted away suggestions that he step aside as Liberal leader before the 2025 election, insisting he was the best person to defeat his rival, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.

But in December, the prime minister suffered a major blow. His long-time ally, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from the cabinet with a stinging public letter suggesting she had lost faith in him.

From there, calls for Trudeau to quit grew within his own party and a new poll showed the Liberal's popularity had fallen to an all-time low of 16%. By Christmas, Trudeau's position appeared to slide from challenging to untenable - a reality that his announcement today appeared to acknowledge.

Nadine Yousif
Reporting from Toronto

Image source, Getty Images

At Monday morning's news conference, Prime Minister Trudeau was asked to reflect on his accomplishments, and also whether he had any regrets.

Trudeau listed his focus on strengthening the middle class as a highlight, saying that his government passed a number of policies that helped reduce taxes for lower-income Canadians.

One of those policies is the passage of a national child-care programme that has reduced day care costs for some Canadians to an average of $10 a day.

Trudeau said he was also proud of advancing reconciliation with Indigenous communities in Canada, which his government did by funding clean water projects, for example, and for his climate change initiatives.

One thing he did not mention - but will undoubtedly be remembered for - is his government's legalisation of recreational marijuana nationwide in 2018.

As for regrets, Trudeau listed one: his broken promise to enact electoral reform in Canada.

One of his main pledges was to end the first-past-the-post system, under which whoever has the most votes wins regardless of whether they win a majority, and replace it with ranked voting.

Explaining his failure to do so, Trudeau said he could not change the country's electoral system "unilaterally without support from other parties".

Holly Honderich
BBC News, Toronto

A general election must be called in Canada before October, but Justin Trudeau's announcement today makes it even more likely it will come early, this spring.

Cost of living continues to dominate Canadians' concerns, especially as the country struggles with rising inflation. Polling done by the firm Ipsos for Global News in December found that a quarter of all respondents ranked inflation and the cost of living as their top priority, up five percentage points from the previous year.

Housing availability and affordability will likely be another major topic of discussion heading into the election. Many in Canada struggle to pay their mortgage or rent amid skyrocketing prices. The issue is especially acute in large cities like Toronto and Vancouver, where a six-figure annual income is needed to afford a house.

Healthcare will also be on the minds of voters. There are issues throughout the provincially-run system, including basic access. Some 6.5 million Canadians do not have regular access to primary care physicians.

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

Image source, Getty Images

Following Trudeau's announcement to step down, his Liberal Party must now find a new leader to compete in a general election. Here are some people expected to enter the race:

• Former Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland: The former finance minister who resigned from her post citing disagreements with Trudeau on how to respond to Trump's threat of tariffs is seen as one of the top contenders.
• Former central banker Mark Carney: Carney has been serving in recent months as a special adviser to Trudeau.
• Anita Anand, transport minister: Anand is often touted as one of the more ambitious members of the Liberal caucus and entered politics in 2019 when she was elected to represent the riding of Oakville, just outside of Toronto.
• François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry: Champagne entered the Commons in 2015, but since then has gone through international trade, foreign affairs and most recently the department of innovation, science and industry.
• Mélanie Joly, minister of foreign affairs: Joly has represented Canada on the world stage since 2021. She is the current foreign minister.
• Dominic LeBlanc, minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs: LeBlanc has a record of stepping into portfolios at difficult moments, including becoming finance minister within hours of Freeland's bombshell resignation.
• Christy Clark, a former provincial premier: The former premier served as the leader of Canada's western-most province from 2011 to 2017.

The Liberal Party of Canada's president, Sachit Mehra, plans to convene a meeting of the National Board this week to select a new leader of the party, according to a statement released today.

“Liberals across the country are immensely grateful to Justin Trudeau for more than a decade of leadership to our party and the country," he wrote.

Mehra praised Trudeau for rebuilding the party, saying he had made it "the most open and inclusive movement in Canadian politics".

"We thank him for his service to Canada, and we look forward to his continued leadership until a new leader is chosen," he wrote.

Less than two hours after Trudeau announced his plans to resign, US President-elect Donald Trump took another jab suggesting Canada should merge with the US as its 51st state.

"Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State," Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.

"If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!"

The last time Trump suggested this was reportedly at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in December when Trudeau flew in to discuss the proposed tariffs. Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, which would devastate Canada’s economy.

He had then also mocked Trudeau as the "governor" of the "Great State of Canada".

A Canadian minister who accompanied Trudeau said it was "in no way a serious comment".

Image source, Reuters

Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP), has been giving his reaction to Trudeau's decision to resign.

At a press conference, he says Trudeau and the Liberal Party have “let down Canadians”, and he particularly focuses on the cost of living.

“It doesn’t matter who the next Liberal leader is. They have let you down. They do not deserve another chance,” he says.

Singh also takes aim at the Conservatives, describing them as "another serious threat to the middle class" and warning they will make “cuts” which will harm Canadians.

Taking questions from journalists, Singh says he will vote against this government in any vote of confidence and that he wants an election.

Pressed on whether there is anything the Liberals can do to put off the NDP from supporting a no confidence motion, he says: "No. As soon as there is a confidence vote we will be voting against the government."

He also says it is “completely wrong” for the Liberals to prorogue parliament.

The centre-left NDP party is the fourth largest in the Canadian House of Commons, and in September it pulled the plug on a two-and-a-half-year-old agreement with Justin Trudeau's Liberals that had helped keep his minority government in power.

In his resignation speech in Ottawa today, Trudeau told Canadians that they deserve a "real choice in the next election".

"It has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election," he said.

The "internal battles" were largely Trudeau's recent challenges as he fended off repeated calls to resign, including from inside his own party.

The tipping point appears to have been the resignation of one of Trudeau's most powerful and loyal ministers, Chrystia Freeland, in December. Freeland said Trudeau was not taking the threat of tariffs from the incoming Trump administration in the US seriously enough.

Following Freeland's resignation, Trudeau then started to lose the support of smaller parties that had previously helped keep the Liberal Party in power - the Quebec nationalist party, Bloc Quebecois, and the left-leaning New Democrats.

Image source, Getty Images

Reacting to news of Justin Trudeau's resignation, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, a federal party whose aim is to advance Quebec interests, says Canada needs to have an election as soon as possible.

"Now is time for an election, which I understand will be held after the Liberal Party has chosen a new leader," Yves-François Blanchet told reporters in Ottawa.

He added that he believes Trudeau made the right decision in stepping down, "even if it will cost us a few weeks" before Canadians can head to the polls.

The next federal election must be held on or before October. It can be called much sooner if parliament - including Bloc Quebecois members - votes in favour of a no-confidence motion to topple Trudeau's Liberal government.

This cannot happen until after March 27, as Trudeau has delayed the sitting parliament until then to give his party time to find a new leader.

Holly Honderich
BBC News, Toronto

Justin Trudeau this morning confirmed mounting suspicion that he would step down as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party.

So what happens next?

Trudeau said the governor general had accepted his request to prorogue parliament, meaning all proceedings, including debates and votes, will be suspended, though parliament will not be dissolved.

This prorogation will last until 24 March. In the meantime, the Liberal Party will look for its new leader, a process that usually takes around four months.

The president of the Liberal Party said on Monday that a "nation-wide democratic process" would be used to select a new leader, but no further details were provided. In Canada, federal leaders are elected during party conventions, where members of the party vote.

But even after parliament resumes its work on 24 March, the newly elected Liberal leader may not hold power for very long.

Riding high in opinion polls with a double-digit lead, the Conservative Party has tried for months to trigger an election - which must occur before October - by bringing a series of no-confidence votes in the House of Commons. They are likely do to so again in March.

If a government loses a confidence motion or vote in the House, it is expected to resign or seek the dissolution of parliament, triggering a federal election.

The government needs the backing of a majority of the 338 members of parliament in a no-confidence vote. The Liberals are 17 seats shy of that, meaning they require support from members of Canada's other parties.

Image source, Getty Images

One of Justin Trudeau's former ministers, Catherine McKenna, says she regrets that Trudeau didn't resign sooner.

McKenna, who was Canada's environment minister between 2015 and 2019 and minister of infrastructure and communities from 2019 to 2021, told BBC Radio 4's PM programme that she called for his resignation six months ago.

She says people in Canada were "tired" of Trudeau after nine years but his legacy will be "a lot of things that made our country better".

Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), keeping Canada's trading relationship with the US intact, and taking action on climate will also be what he is remembered for, McKenna adds.

Asked about any regrets during Trudeau's premiership, McKenna says her only one is that Trudeau didn't leave sooner - given the "challenging situation" of Donald Trump's impeding return as US president.

She also says there may have been a challenge for the Liberal Party on delivering on policies, such as housing.

Nadine Yousif
Reporting from Toronto

Image source, Getty Images

Justin Trudeau said today that Canada's governor general accepted his request to prorogue parliament. So what does that mean?

Proroguing parliament is essentially a suspension that will stop all proceedings, including debates and votes, without dissolving parliament.

While a routine part of parliamentary procedure, it is sometimes used by governments to buy time during a political crisis.

Parliament was most recently prorogued by Trudeau in August 2020, when his government was facing an ethics scandal over its handling of a contract with a charity.

It was also used to avoid a no-confidence vote by Trudeau's predecessor, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who prorogued parliament in December 2008 when federal opposition parties sought to form a coalition government.

Parliament resumed in January 2009. By then the coalition had fallen apart, allowing Harper to remain in power.

Nadine Yousif
Reporting from Toronto

Image source, Getty Images

At this morning's news conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the exit of his former finance minister, and long-time ally, Chrystia Freeland for the first time in public.

Her resignation in December is credited as sparking a renewed, stronger push within the Liberal Party to get Trudeau to step down.

Freeland's resignation letter, which made a big splash both in Canada and in many other countries, outlined her disagreements with Trudeau on government spending and on how to handle tariff threats made by incoming US President Donald Trump against Canada.

Her stunning exit came after Trudeau informed her that he intended to replace her as finance minister. He had reportedly offered her another position that would focus on handling the US-Canada relationship.

Since then, Trudeau had not spoken in public about Freeland and opted out of his usual year-end interviews with Canadian media. That changed today.

Trudeau hailed Freeland as an "incredible political partner" who had been by his side for close to 10 years.

“I’d really hoped that she would agree to continue as my deputy PM and take on one of the most important files that this country is facing, but she chose otherwise," Trudeau said.

He refused to comment further on their private conversations.

In a post on X reacting to his resignation, Freeland kept it brief: "I thank Justin Trudeau for his years of service to Canada and Canadians. I wish him and his family the very best."