Power Ranking: Who’s up, who’s down and who’s scrambling after Justin Trudeau’s resignation

Even the weather had turned on Justin Trudeau by the time Canada’s drama-plagued PM finally said uncle and announced that he was stepping down as Liberal leader. The resignation itself, on Monday morning outside of Rideau Cottage, was hardly a bombshell: with approval ratings at 22 per cent, Trudeau’s chances of electoral victory had snowballs in hell laughing. But his brutally timed departure leaves Canada with a lame duck leader to fight Donald Trump on trade negotiations and the Liberal party with a mere hot second to find a viable challenger to take on Pierre Poilievre.

A season of political manoeuvring and not-so-subtle power grabs is officially upon us. Here, a ranking of the key Toronto players: who’s winning, who’s losing and who’s “considering” in the early days of the post-Trudeau era.

1. Chrystia Freeland: ⬆

At the time of her resignation from cabinet, Canada’s finance minister attributed her shocking and shockingly public split with Trudeau to her feelings that the economic threat of the incoming Trump administration required fiscal sobriety (rather than foolhardy publicity stunts) and his feelings that she should just chill and accept a demotion with gratitude. But, in the aftermath of Monday’s news, Freeland’s decisive departure looks like the groundwork for a leadership bid. Yes, she’s a long-time Trudeau loyalist, but now she’s set herself up as his no-more-nonsense foil. And if the biggest obstacle for the Liberals is distancing the party from its former golden boy, being the woman who landed the knockout punch is a pretty good look.

2. Mark Carney: ⬆

The former governor of the Bank of Canada landed at the centre of the Freeland resignation scandal when Trudeau told his then finance minister that Carney would be taking over her job. Only he never did. Was the PM bluffing? Who knows. But if Carney has his sights set on Sussex Drive, it would make sense to avoid any further spritzes of Eau de Trudeau. On Tuesday, he expressed gratitude for all of the support he’d received from Liberal MPs and said that he is “considering” a run (Canadian for, Oh, it’s on). Notably, he has called out Poilievre for having no plan and lame slogans (presumably that includes his own nickname: “Carbon Carney”).

3. Jamil Jivani: ⬆

With a sitting duck of a PM, US trade negotiations will be a time to shine for this freshman Conservative MP and anti-woke crusader. Sure, he’s held office for less than a year—after winning a March 2024 by-election in Durham—but he’s 15 years ahead of the game in terms of cozying up to the Trump administration: J. D. Vance is his Yale Law School buddy, and the two had dinner just last month to discuss economic relations.

4. The Loonie: ⬆

That poor bird may be the only Canadian that has taken more hits than Trudeau in the past several months. Cut to Monday morning, when the dollar rose by roughly one per cent, a surge for which experts credit economic optimism tied to new leadership.

5. Doug Ford: ⬆

Foreigners who don’t know any better would be forgiven for assuming that Canada’s current PM is a husky blond with a hate-on for China. While Trudeau was risking frostbite outside of Rideau Cottage on Monday, Ontario’s premier was making the rounds on the international cable news circuit, appearing on CNN, Fox News and the BBC to talk tough about Trump’s tariff threats and plans to turn Canada into the 51st state. Granted, a Liberal leadership race followed by a federal election doesn’t bode well for Ford’s much-rumoured hope of an early provincial election this spring. Still, establishing himself as Canada’s renegade spokesperson in looming trade wars will be a valuable chip to cash whenever election day comes.

6. Jenni Byrne: ⬆

The architect of Poilievre’s rise to political dominance (and post-nerd makeover) would have loved nothing more than to run her candidate on the wave of anti-Trudeau sentiment that has been spreading since the Freedom Convoy. So now it’s back to the drawing board—sort of. Within hours of Trudeau’s resignation, Poilievre released a video casting all remaining Liberals as loyal members of the PM’s nation-breaking army who only ditched him to protect their pensions. It’s a solid plan in light of the current leadership void.

7. Anita Anand: ⬇

In 2023, her move from the Department of National Defence to the Treasury Board was viewed as a demotion and a wrist slap after the MP from Oakville was a little too open about her ambitions to succeed the PM. So we know she’s interested in the gig, and her resumé is stacked with meaningful work on high-profile portfolios, including securing PPE and vaccines during the pandemic and overseeing the investigation into sexual abuse in the military. But, if the key challenge for Liberal contenders is avoiding associations with Trudeau, Anand will probably come to regret her recent re-upping of support: just two weeks ago, she told reporters at a post-cabinet-shuffle swearing-in ceremony that “we’re all here today because we absolutely support the prime minister.”

8. Jagmeet Singh: ⬇

Lately, he’s the tough guy who’s openly trashing Trudeau from the left. Sources in his party are even promising an “unfiltered” leader in the upcoming election campaign. But where was that man of action several months back, when filter-free sentiments may have actually made a difference? Instead, Singh spent too long waffling over whether to pull his support of Trudeau and let the Liberal party implode.

9. Olivia Chow: ⬇

Given how many massive municipal priorities rely on federal funding, Toronto’s mayor has every reason to feel anxious. Let’s face it: it’s a momentous challenge for the Liberals to produce a winning leader in the time allotted, and Everyman Poilievre is unlikely to bestow graces upon urban centres. Meanwhile, the city is desperate for functional transit and affordable housing, with progress on the latter issue to be helped along by $471 million earmarked by the federal Liberals to build 12,000 homes in Toronto—a plan Poilievre has promised to scrap.

10. Kevin O’Leary: ⬇

When he’s not planning a buyout of TikTok, the former Dragon and current host of Shark Tank has been spending time with his good buddy Trump at Mar-a-Lago, where they’ve discussed the “interesting concept” (O’Leary’s words) of a Canada–US merger. Canadian politicians likely won’t take kindly to him stepping on their toes. Good thing everything that happens on reality TV is fake.

11. The Carbon Tax: ⬇

Yes, carbon emissions are killing our planet, and the Trudeau government’s federal levy to lower greenhouse gas emissions is demonstrably working. But, absent a certain prime ministerial punching bag, the Conservatives are now doubling down on their calls for a carbon tax election. And for Liberal hopefuls looking to signal a centrist mentality and create distance from the previous PM, a populist “axe the tax” strategy could be too tempting to resist.

12. Katie Telford: ⬇

The PM’s loyal lieutenant is like the string quartet that kept playing on the Titanic as the ship went down: the commitment to the cause is admirable, but, man, is it ever cold at the bottom.

13. The guy on the corner of Steeles and Highway 10 waving a giant “F**k Trudeau” flag: ⬇

The Canadians who turned hating the PM into a central identity (and fashion statement) may be the most sad to see him go. On the plus side, expect a fire sale on anti-Trudeau merch.