On Friday, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears set to fall from power early next year after an important ally promised to lead the charge bringing down his minority Liberal government and ending the election threat.
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, who has been helping keep Trudeau in office, said he would present a formal motion of no-confidence after the House of Commons elected chamber returns from a winter break on Jan. 27.
If all the opposition parties back the motion, Trudeau will be out of office after more than nine years as prime minister and an election will take place.
A series of polls over the past 18 months suggest the Liberals, worn down by voter fatigue and frustration over high prices and a housing crisis, would be resoundingly defeated by the official opposition right-of-center Conservatives.
The New Democrats, who like the Liberals are trying to win over the support of center-left voters, say Trudeau is too beholden to big business.
"No matter who is leading the Liberal Party, this government's time is up. We will put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons," Singh said.
The leader of the Bloc Quebecois, the bigger opposition party, vowed to support the motion and ruled out any possibility of the survival of Trudeau.
The Conservatives said they would ask Governor General Mary Simon - the personal representative of King Charles, Canada's head of state - to recall Parliament to hold a no-confidence vote before the end of the year. Constitutional experts say Simon would reject such a move.
"We cannot have a chaotic clown show running our government into the ground. What is clear is that Justin Trudeau does not have the confidence of Parliament," Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters.
Soon after Singh issued his letter a grinning Trudeau, under mounting pressure to resign following the stunning resignation of his finance minister this week, presided over a cabinet shuffle.
Trudeau's office was not immediately available for comment.
Trudeau, who has not spoken publicly about Freeland's exit, normally addresses reporters after cabinet shuffles but left without saying a word. Major domestic media organizations said his office had canceled traditional end-of-year interviews.
Votes on budgets and other spending are considered confidence measures. Also, the government must allocate a few days each session to opposition parties when they can unveil motions on any matter, including non-confidence.
The polls, which show a bad defeat for the Liberals, have also bad news for the NDP.
Singh's move is a political risk.
According to Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos-Reid, a polling firm, Singh saw a chance to replace the Liberals as the first choice for voters who opposed the Conservatives.
"Waiting to give the Liberals and even Trudeau a chance to get off the mat is ill-advised," he said by email.
A source close to Trudeau said before Singh's announcement that the prime minister will take the Christmas break to ponder his future and unlikely to make any announcement before January.
Liberal leaders are elected by special conventions of party members which takes months to arrange.
It also means that even if Trudeau resigns now, the Liberals won't be able to install a new permanent leader ahead of the next election, which means they would then have to contest the vote with an interim leader-an act the party has never had to do before in Canada.
So far around 20 Liberal legislators are openly calling for Trudeau to step down but his cabinet has stayed loyal.
The timing of the crisis is critical, as US President-elect Donald Trump assumes office on Jan.20 and threatens to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada that would badly hurt the economy.
The premiers of the 10 provinces, seeking a united approach to the tariffs, are complaining about what they call the chaos in Ottawa.
Read also| India-US Defense Ties Advancing Rapidly, Says Pentagon
Read also| Canada Unveils New Border Security Plan Amid Trump’s Tariff Threats
