A Canadian prime minister who has outstayed his welcome, persistent inflation, a government bumped and bruised by scandal and a firedup opposition leader itching for a showdown.
It was against this backdrop, four decades ago, that Pierre Trudeau took his apocryphal "walk in the snow" and decided not to contest the next federal election. After a shocking upset in a "safe" electoral district and with a looming possibility of a blowout in the next federal election, Justin Trudeau's predicament closely mirrors that of his father. But the incumbent prime minister says he has no intention of stepping down, despite evidence the public is growing increasingly weary of both his tenure- and of his Liberal party.
In late June, Trudeau's party lost a byelection for a Toronto seat the party had held for nearly three decades, foreshadowing what pundits say could portend the collapse of the party's stronghold in Canada's most populous city. The loss has prompted soul-searching within the Liberal party and renewed calls for a leadership change.
In an interview with CBC News last Monday, the first since his party's stinging loss, Trudeau addressed his political future, saying he had no interest in stepping down.
Denne historien er fra July 12, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra July 12, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Finn family murals
The optimism that runs through Finnish artist Tove Jansson's Moomin stories also appears in her public works, now on show in a Helsinki exhibition
I hoped Finland would be a progressive dream.I've had to think again Mike Watson
Oulu is five hours north from Helsinki by train and a good deal colder and darker each winter than the Finnish capital. From November to March its 220,000 residents are lucky to see daylight for a couple of hours a day and temperatures can reach the minus 30s. However, this is not the reason I sense a darkening of the Finnish dream that brought me here six years ago.
A surplus of billionaires is destabilising our democracies Zoe Williams
The concept of \"elite overproduction\" was developed by social scientist Peter Turchin around the turn of this century to describe something specific: too many rich people for not enough rich-person jobs.
'What will people think? I don't care any more'
At 90, Alan Bennett has written a sex-fuelled novella set in a home for the elderly. He talks about mourning Maggie Smith, turning down a knighthood and what he makes of the new UK prime minister
I see you
What happens when people with acute psychosis meet the voices in their heads? A new clinical trial reveals some surprising results
Rumbled How Ali ran rings around apartheid, 50 years ago
Fifty years ago, in a corner of white South Africa, Muhammad Ali already seemed a miracle-maker.
Trudeau faces 'iceberg revolt'as calls grow for PM to quit
Justin Trudeau, who promised “sunny ways” as he won an election on a wave of public fatigue with an incumbent Conservative government, is now facing his darkest and most uncertain political moment as he attempts to defy the odds to win a rare fourth term.
Lost Maya city revealed through laser mapping
After swapping machetes and binoculars for computer screens and laser mapping, a team of researchers have discovered a lost Maya city containing temple pyramids, enclosed plazas and a reservoir which had been hidden for centuries by the Mexican jungle.
'A civil war' Gangs step up assault on capital
Armed fighters advance into neighbourhoods at the heart of Port-au-Prince as authorities try to restore order
Reality bites in the Himalayan 'kingdom of happiness'
High emigration and youth unemployment levels belie the mountain nation's global reputation for cheeriness
