As trouble mounts for Justin Trudeau, Donald Trump again takes the ‘governor’ jibe

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau (L) and US President-elect Donald Trump (Courtesy: Reuters)

Beleaguered Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just can’t catch a break. His government was thrown into disarray on December 16 when finance minister Chrystia Freeland, also the deputy PM, quit following differences over the handling of possible Trump tariffs.

Rumours of Trudeau quitting are in circulation again.

US president-elect Donald Trump twisted the knife a tad more when he called the Canadian leader “governor” again.

“The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau. Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada. She will not be missed!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on December 17.

The jibe comes less than a week after Trump declared Trudeau the "Governor of Canada" following a dinner meeting. Trudeau had flown to Mar-a-Lago after Trump threatened 25 percent tariffs against Canada for failing to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the United States.

"It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada," Trump posted on December 11.

Freeland, a long-time Trudeau ally, reportedly quit after Trudeau asked the former journalist to serve as minister without a portfolio dealing with Canada-US relations in name only - in effect a major demotion.

In a scathing resignation letter, Freeland accused Trudeau of choosing "costly political gimmicks" over addressing the threat posed by Trump's "aggressive economic nationalism", the BBC said.

Public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc is the new finance minister but that will do little to ease trouble for the PM.

A top member of the opposition New Democrats, who have been helping keep the Liberals in power, said the party would vote to bring down Trudeau next year unless he quit, the Reuters news agency reported. Party leader Jagmeet Singh had earlier been less equivocal when asked about bringing down Trudeau, whom he insisted should resign.

Trudeau can be ousted if the opposition parties unite against him on a vote of no confidence, though that cannot happen until next year. Parliament breaks for Christmas from December 17 till January 26.

Trump takes office on January 20. Canada and Mexico will closely be watching how far he goes with his tariff threats.