Canada’s Trudeau Is Losing Grip on Power as Allies Turn Against Him

OTTAWA—Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s hold on power grew more tenuous Friday as the New Democratic Party, which has been propping up his minority government, said it was withdrawing its support.

A growing chorus of voices from within Trudeau’s own Liberal Party, including longtime allies, called on him to resign as he named a new cabinet days after the resignation of the finance minister. She stepped down because she disagreed with Trudeau’s spending proposals.

Trudeau has been under criticism from allies and opponents alike over recent decisions. Chrystia Freeland, who was the finance minister and deputy prime minister, said she left the cabinet because she thought Trudeau wasn’t taking adequate steps to prepare for a possible trade war with Washington.

Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada.

Voters blame Trudeau for rising costs and housing shortages that were aggravated by looser immigration policies.

Public-opinion polls over the past year and a half have consistently shown the Liberals are trailing the Conservative Party by 20 percentage points. One recent survey by the polling firm Abacus found more Canadians hold a favorable view of Trump than Trudeau.

The Liberal Party lawmaker Rob Oliphant, who called Trudeau a friend and lauded his leadership record, on Friday posted a letter on the social-media platform X, in which he urged Trudeau to step down.

Oliphant said voters in his Toronto-area district say they can’t vote for Trudeau again, and called on him “to relinquish the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada to a new leader elected through a robust, open leadership contest.”

In October, roughly two dozen Liberal lawmakers signed a letter calling on Trudeau to quit. At the time, Trudeau said he would carry on, and the Liberal caucus has no mechanism available to push the leader of the party out.

An election must be held no later than October of next year. It could happen earlier if the government is defeated in the legislature or if Trudeau calls a snap election.