Today, Monday January 6, 2025, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

• A new leader will be selected by a competitive process to be determined by the Liberal Party of Canada. The leadership selection will happen over the next 2 months and a new leader will be selected approximately the end of March 2025.
• Most likely timing of the next Federal Election will be spring 2025, likely as earliest as beginning of April or up until late May. The reasoning of this timing is that with a new leader in place by approximately end of March 2025, and election would be called soon after and election writ period campaign periods can run from 35 – 51 days in length.
• Prime Minister Trudeau also announced that he visited the Governor General and has prorogued parliament until March 24, 2025.
• Prorogation of a Parliament results in the termination of a session. It impacts both the House of Commons and the Senate as they stand prorogued until the opening of the next session. Prorogation of a session brings to an end all proceedings before Parliament. With certain exceptions, unfinished business “dies” on the Order Paper and must be started anew in a subsequent session. Bills which have not received Royal Assent before prorogation are “entirely terminated” and, in order to be proceeded with in the new session, must be reintroduced as if they had never existed. The notable exception to this is private Members’ Business.