By Alice McFarlane

‘What happens now?’: Agriculture group reacts to Trudeau resignation

Jan 6, 2025 | 3:06 PM

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed media Monday morning to announce that he will step down as Liberal leader once his party selects a replacement.

This was his first planned news conference in the three weeks since Chrystia Freeland’s resignation as finance minister and deputy prime minister, which rocked Trudeau’s government and ignited an even bigger push for him to step aside. It also comes after a growing number of Liberal MP’s were calling for Trudeau’s resignation.

Trudeau also announced that the Governor General permitted his request of proroguing Parliament until Mar. 24.

Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) President Bill Prybylski said he wasn’t surprised by the announcement, but it leaves at lot of questions for agriculture.

“How does this affect programming and legislation? What do the next couple of months look like on the political scene on the hill? How does that affect producers? I guess it is yet to be seen, so a lot of uncertainty going forward,” he said.

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A priority for APAS will be contacting the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) to see if they’ve heard anything more outside of Trudeau’s announcement. Prybylski said they are planning a trip to Ottawa in February for CFA meetings.

“Right now, all the external meetings that we were trying to set up are obviously in limbo until such time as we know if there’s even going to be anybody in Ottawa to talk to you in terms of elected officials,” he said. “Again, a lot of uncertainty, but we will definitely stay on top of things and try to navigate as best we can with whomever it is that we can arrange meetings with.”

This all comes at a time when President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to slap a 25 per cent tariff on all goods entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico on Jan. 20, unless the countries curb the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders.

Responding to today’s announcement Trump said Justin Trudeau resigned because he knows the U.S. will not put up with trade deficits with Canada and said many Canadians would love being the 51st state. Trump reiterated his rhetoric about Canada joining the United States in a post on Truth Social after Trudeau’s announcement.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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