Tuesday, January 7

Justin Trudeau has resigned from his position as Canada's prime minister after widespread calls for him to step down.

Trudeau is the leader of the Liberal Party, whose primary opponent is the right-wing Conservative Party. Trudeau has maintained his position as Canada's prime minister since he was first elected in 2015, and he was initially a very popular leader for the country.

However, in recent times, countries across the world have witnessed the rise in popularity of more conservative, right-wing parties, and Canada is no exception. Canada's Conservative Party has been gaining ground in recent months, and the people have been losing faith in Trudeau's Liberal Party-- their support recently hit an all-time low of 16%.

Citizens seem to be frustrated over a high cost of living and rising inflation, leading to the rise of the Conservative Party. Earlier last year, Trudeau balked at the idea of resigning when calls began, but as the year went on, it became more and more clear that he was losing popularity.

The tipping point seemed to be when one of his most loyal ministers, Chrystia Freeland, stepped down from her position over concerns that Trudeau was not taking Trump's recent tariff threats strongly enough. After this, his coalition in Parliament quickly fell apart, and no party had a majority any more. This made it clear to him that it was time to resign, and he officially announced his resignation this week.

Before resigning, though, Trudeau approved the prorogation of Parliament, effectively preventing them from doing anything until March 24. This will give his party time to choose a new leader before the next elections, which will take place before October 20, 2025.

However, the Conservative Party could attempt to pass a no-confidence vote, which would immediately oust the Liberal Party and instantly lead to elections. The party has tried to do this several times in the past, but after Trudeau's coalition fell apart, the Liberal Party no longer maintains a majority in Parliament. This means that some other party needs to take their side if the Liberal Party wants to stay in power until the set elections take place later in the year.

Fact of the Day: The slow loris monkey is the only venomous mammal. The slow loris contains patches of venom in its elbows, which it licks and then uses to poison other animals when it bites them.

Quote of the Day: Take a deep breath. Get present in the moment and ask yourself what is important this very second. (Greg McKeown)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Tome (noun, TOHM) - Tome is a formal word for a book, and especially a very large, thick, often scholarly book.

In a Sentence: We picked up a tome on the Ghana Empire for our history project.