00:20:59.900I'm sharing with you today. I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister,
00:21:09.340after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process.
00:21:18.140Last night I asked the president of the Liberal Party to begin that process.
00:21:23.980This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me
00:21:29.900that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.
00:21:39.360Mes chers amis, comme vous savez, je suis un fighter.
00:21:44.320Dans mon fort intérieur, je me suis toujours battu parce que je me soucie profondément des Canadiens.
00:21:50.520Et je serai toujours motivé parce qu'il est dans le meilleur intérêt des Canadiens.
00:21:55.740And the fact is that despite all the efforts deployed to pass through, the parliament has been paralyzed for months after what was the longest session of a minority parliament in the history of our country.
00:22:11.740This morning, I met the general governor to tell her that we needed a new session of parliament.
00:22:20.740She reached my request, and the room will be proroged until the 24th of March.
00:22:28.740During the Fêtes, I also had the opportunity to reflect and have long conversations with my family.
00:22:39.740Throughout my career, all the success that I had personally was due to their support and encouragement.
00:22:48.740So, yesterday evening, I shared with my children the decision that I share with you all today.
00:22:57.740I have the intention to leave my office as president of the Canada Party and Prime Minister
00:23:04.740once the party has chosen its next president during a national, rigorous and competitive process.
00:23:14.740Yesterday evening, I asked the President of the party to start the necessary steps.
00:23:21.740The country deserves a clear and clear choice during the next election.
00:23:28.740It is clear to me that if I have to focus on internal battles, I can't be the best option during these elections.
00:23:37.740Le Parti libéral du Canada est une institution importante dans l'histoire de notre grand
00:23:44.640pays et de notre démocratie. Un nouveau premier ministre et chef du Parti portera les valeurs
00:23:52.740et les idées du Parti libéral dans la prochaine élection. J'ai hâte d'observer le déroulement
00:23:59.040de ce processus dans les mois à venir. Nous avons été élus pour la troisième fois
00:24:05.340in 2021 to strengthen the economy after the pandemic and make Canada progress in a complex world.
00:24:15.240And that's exactly what I'm going to continue to do, what we're going to continue to do for Canadians.
00:24:24.840The Liberal Party of Canada is an important institution in the history of our great country and democracy.
00:24:31.440A new Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into
00:30:04.400Prime Minister, up until three weeks ago, you were intending to stay.
00:30:09.900And it seems that the event three weeks ago of Ms. Freeland coming out and saying you were firing her as your finance minister was the catalyst that brought us here today.
00:30:22.220So can you explain your side of what happened there?
00:30:29.840Chrystia has been by my side for close to 10 years now.
00:30:34.560She has been an incredible political partner through just about everything we have done
00:30:41.360as a government and as a party over the past decade.
00:30:49.360I had really hoped that she would agree to continue as my Deputy Prime Minister and take
00:30:55.360on one of the most important files that not just this government, but this country is facing.
00:31:00.640something, but she chose otherwise. In regards to what actually happened, I am not someone
00:31:10.740who's in the habit of sharing private conversations.
00:31:17.240Christiane a été, depuis presque dix ans maintenant, à mes côtés, en tant que partenaire
00:31:26.840political, essential to almost everything we have achieved as a government, as a party.
00:31:33.840I would really like to choose to continue as my Prime Minister as a Vice-Premier, and
00:31:44.840to take one of the most important issues in which Canadians and our government will face
00:31:53.840face in the coming months, after the next election, but she didn't want to.
00:32:00.840But in terms of details, I'm not someone who shares the details of private conversations.
00:32:08.840You spoke about the Liberal Party as an institution and the internal battles right now, but I'm wondering if you feel that another leader will have more success than you will at beating Pierre Poiliev in the next campaign.
00:32:21.840Pierre Polyev's vision for this country is not the right one for Canadians.
00:32:32.040Stopping the fight against climate change doesn't make sense.
00:32:35.800Backing off on the values and strength in diversity that Canada has always, always worked to pull itself together on,
00:32:51.180it's not the right path for the country.
00:32:53.640Attacking journalists, the CBC institutions, that's not what Canadians need in this moment.
00:33:00.100We need an ambitious, optimistic view of the future, and Pierre Polyev is not offering that.
00:33:09.780And I look forward to the fight as progressives across this country stand up for the kind of vision for a better country that Canadians have always carried,
00:33:21.940despite the tremendous pressures around the world to think smaller, to veer towards the hard right,
00:33:32.340and to be less ambitious for what we can be and do as a country when the world really needs Canada.
00:33:40.840That's not an answer, though. Yes or no? Is there another leader that could beat them?
00:33:48.340Cœur Polyèvre a une vision profondément petite et erronée pour ce pays, si même on accepte qu'il ait une vision de reculer sur les droits fondamentaux,
00:34:06.500d'arrêter la défense, la lutte contre les changements climatiques, de ne pas investir
00:34:16.820dans une économie plus verte, plus inclusive, de toujours chercher des divisions entre les
00:34:24.080Canadiens plutôt que de rassembler pour faire face à l'avenir de façon optimiste
00:34:29.460et ambitieuse. Ce n'est pas le bon choix pour les Canadiens. Et j'ai hâte de faire
00:34:35.460part, de continuer de faire partie d'un mouvement progressiste qui va envisager un avenir meilleur
00:34:42.080pour les Canadiens sur l'optimisme et le travail que les Canadiens ont toujours fait
00:34:54.660Il y a 16 ans, en décembre 2008, Stephen Harper a rejet le Parlement pour s'éviter
00:35:00.540un vote de confiance qu'il savait qu'il allait perdre parce que les trois parties
00:35:04.500opposition allait voter contre lui, exactement comme la situation dans laquelle vous vous
00:35:09.240trouvez aujourd'hui. À l'époque, le chef libéral, Stéphane Dion, avait dit, et je
00:35:13.460le cite ici, que c'était une entrave à la Constitution et un affront à la démocratie.
00:35:19.580Alors, j'aimerais savoir pourquoi ce qui était mauvais pour les conservateurs de Stephen
00:35:23.560Harper devrait être bon pour les libéraux de Justin Trudeau.
00:35:26.620La Gouverneure Générale, en 2008, avait correctement conclu que la Chambre venait juste d'accorder leur confiance de façon formelle au gouvernement de M. Harper,
00:35:45.680malgré les malgré même une lettre signée qui était un document politique la voix de la chambre compte or avant d'arrêter avant de d'arrêter le travail à la chambre pour les
00:36:05.800We gained three votes of non-confiance, and we will have to test the trust of the
00:36:20.220Chambre dès le mois de mars pour passer les éléments budgétaires nécessaires pour faire
00:36:34.220In 2008, the Governor General correctly concluded that because the very last times in the previous
00:36:45.920weeks that the confidence of the house had been tested it had passed that confidence test
00:36:56.080stephen harper continued to have the confidence of the house and it actually would bear out
00:37:00.000because as soon as they came back from the prorogation stephen harper won a confidence
00:37:05.120vote once again so a political document or political speeches doesn't carry the kind of weight
00:37:12.160that um winning a confidence vote means but this prorogation will take us only into march
00:37:22.400and there will be confidence votes in march uh in the passing of supply that will allow
00:37:30.640parliament to weigh in on confidence in a way that is entirely in keeping with all the
00:37:38.080the principles of democracy and the workings of our strong institutions.
00:37:44.280Mais avec respect, M. Trudeau, y a-t-il pas quelque chose un peu anti-démocratique de
00:37:48.020suspendre la possibilité du Parlement d'exprimer sa non-confiance, le temps que votre parti
00:37:53.560se cherche un sauveur? Est-ce qu'il ne devrait pas plutôt juste se référer aux électeurs
00:37:59.640et de déclencher dès maintenant une élection?
00:38:01.840Hélène, je pense que tu as très clairement vu, comme tout le monde dans la galerie de presse parlementaire, à quel point le Parlement ne fonctionne plus depuis plusieurs mois.
00:38:15.040On est poigné dans une question de privilèges, il y a des motions d'obstruction constantes et on a pu très peu accomplir pendant les derniers mois au Parlement.
00:38:31.840Le Parlement a besoin d'un reset, a besoin de se calmer un peu les pompons pour se remettre au travail pour les Canadiens et pas à faire de la petite politique constante, ce qu'on est en train de voir des conservateurs.
00:38:51.320So this reset has two elements. One prorogation, so that we start with a fresh approach to Parliament.
00:39:07.320And secondly, the Liberal Party will entame a leadership because I expect that if it's not
00:39:19.060me who will lead the party in the next election, the polarization that we see currently in
00:39:25.880Parliament should also calm a little bit.
00:39:28.560The Canadiens need a Parliament that works particularly in this complex world and these
00:39:36.860Ces deux éléments vont représenter le reset nécessaire pour le Parlement.
00:39:43.860En anglais, mais si vous voulez dire pourquoi pas une élection, vous ne l'avez pas dit.
00:39:49.860The parliamentary press gallery, anyone who's been watching politics closely over the past
00:39:58.860months will know that parliament has been entirely seized by obstruction and filibustering
00:40:10.220and a total lack of productivity over the past few months we are right now the longest serving
00:40:17.580minority government in history and it's time for a reset it's time for the temperature to come down
00:40:25.180for the people to have a fresh start in parliament to be able to navigate through
00:40:32.700these complex times both domestically and internationally and the reset that we have is
00:40:38.860actually two parts one is the prorogation but the other part is recognizing that
00:40:47.020removing me from the equation as the leader who will fight the next election for the liberal party
00:40:53.900should also decrease the level of polarization that we're seeing right now in the House and
00:41:00.060in Canadian politics and allow people to actually focus on serving Canadians in this House and with
00:41:07.580their work the way Canadians deserve. On va prendre une dernière question. Good morning Prime Minister
00:41:13.580Stephanie Taylor with the National Post. Given, as you just said, there's going to be confidence
00:41:17.660votes in March, opposition parties have said they are prepared to bring down your government,
00:41:21.820what kind of chances do you think you are leaving to your successor given that there will only be
00:41:27.340mere weeks for them to introduce themselves to canadians before heading into an election
00:41:31.420potentially uh i have a tremendous amount of confidence uh in both canadians and in
00:41:39.020parliamentarians uh interest in serving canadians in the right way there um
00:41:44.780We're in a minority government right now, and there hasn't been an active leadership
00:41:52.960in a minority government in more than 50 years in this country.
00:41:58.500And there is always going to be the challenge of having a leadership race while a parliament
00:42:06.440would face confidence votes uh in in uh in the course of of delivering supply to the government
00:42:15.080so this is something that we're going to navigate through but i truly feel that removing the
00:42:24.200contention around my own continued leadership is an opportunity to bring the temperature down
00:42:32.760have a government that will focus on the complex issues that are coming forward in the coming months
00:42:42.240while the party gets to have a full national process that brings in people from right across
00:42:50.540the country and makes a determination about the best person to carry the progressive liberal
00:42:59.160standard into the next election can you clarify whether ministers who would like
00:43:06.000to campaign for your job will have to step out of cabinet and how can the
00:43:10.500Liberal government be in a position to protect Canadian businesses and Canadians
00:43:15.780from the threat of tariffs from incoming president Donald Trump when
00:43:19.920members of the government are going to be focused on who's going to be taking
00:43:23.280your job the government will still and the cabinet will still be very much
00:43:29.340focused on doing the job that Canadians elected us to do in 2021 which is fight
00:43:36.680for their interests stand up for their well-being and make sure that they are
00:43:41.940good and that Canadians are protected and strong there will be a leadership
00:43:49.680and the rules will unfold over the coming weeks, but I can assure you that the tools and the need to stand up for Canadians,
00:44:00.680to protect Canadians in their interests and continue to fight for the economy,
00:44:06.680is something that everyone in this government will be singularly focused on.
00:44:12.680Je peux souligner qu'évidemment les règles et les conditions du leadership du Parti libéral vont être discutées dans les semaines à venir, mais le gouvernement qui a été élu pour protéger les Canadiens et leurs intérêts dans un monde très complexe, qui a été élu le plus récemment en 2021,
00:44:35.660will continue this work with a focus and a singular emphasis on what is in the
00:44:43.000interests of the Canadians, while the party does what he needs to have a process of leadership.
00:44:51.560Thank you very much. This concludes the press conference today.
00:44:54.440Thank you everyone. Thank you for being here on a beautiful day in Ottawa.
00:44:57.980Do you think your response will resign? Why not earlier?