Canada’s Justin Trudeau shakes up cabinet as he faces Trump attacks, pressure to step down

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday shook up his cabinet, changing one-third of his team as political turmoil threatens his leadership and tensions erupt with incoming US president Donald Trump.

The move comes soon after a key Trudeau ally announced that he would vote to bring the prime minister down.

Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, said in a statement that his party “will put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons”. If all opposition parties vote against Trudeau’s government, it will have to resign, triggering an election.

Trudeau’s Liberal Party does not have a majority in the House, and it has been relying on NDP votes to pass legislation and keep the government going. Singh and Trudeau had a formal agreement on that until September, when the NDP leader withdrew from the deal.

The developments on Friday come at the end of a chaotic week in Ottawa spurred by the surprise resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland following disagreement with her boss over Trump’s threats to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports.

Her exit, after nearly a decade at Trudeau’s side, marked the first open dissent against the prime minister from within his cabinet and has emboldened critics.