Justin Trudeau resigns as leader of Canada’s governing party after nearly a decade as prime minister.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister,” Trudeau, who has been in power since 2015, told reporters in Ottawa following a protracted political crisis that saw top Liberal allies urge him to quit.
Trudeau says in a news conference in Ottawa that he will stay on as PM until a new Liberal Party leader is chosen.
“This country deserves a real choice” at the next election, he says, announcing that parliament will be prorogued until 24 March.
Trudeau had been under growing pressure from within his party and elsewhere to step down.
Ex-Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland and former central banker Mark Carney are among the potential successors.
