World awaits possible resignation announcement from Canadian PM Trudeau due to poor poll Numbers today

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under pressure over a dip in poll numbers and is increasingly likely to announce he intends to step down on Monday, though he is said not to have made a final decision, a source familiar with his thinking disclosed.

Reuters quoted a source as having confided in it on Sunday after the Globe and Mail reported that Trudeau was expected to announce as early as Monday that he would quit as leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party after nine years in office, one of the longest prime ministerial tenures in the country’s history.

The source requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, according to Reuters.

Trudeau’s departure would leave the party without a permanent head at a time when polls show the Liberals will badly lose to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.

Sources told the Globe and Mail that they did not know definitely when Trudeau would announce his plans to leave but said they expect it would happen before an emergency meeting of Liberal legislators on Wednesday.

An increasing number of Liberal parliamentarians, alarmed by a series of gloomy polls, have publicly urged Trudeau to quit.

Trudeau office did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. His regularly published schedule for Monday said he would participate virtually in a cabinet committee meeting on Canada-U.S. relations.

It remains unclear whether Trudeau will leave immediately or stay on as prime minister until a new Liberal leader is selected, the Globe and Mail report added.