By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is mulling his future amid a major political crisis, has the full support of his cabinet to stay on, new Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Thursday.
Trudeau’s minority Liberal government was plunged into crisis this week after Chrystia Freeland, the previous finance minister, resigned amid a policy clash over spending and wrote a letter condemning his governing style.
Around 15 Liberal legislators are openly calling on Trudeau to quit amid polls showing the party is set to be crushed in an election that must be held by October next year.
Asked whether Trudeau had the full confidence of the cabinet to stay on as prime minister, LeBlanc replied “Yes.” He was speaking at an event in Atlantic Canada.
Justice Minister Arif Virani though did not answer directly on Thursday when pressed repeatedly by reporters about whether Trudeau should go.
“Decisions will be made in Ottawa by the actors that are involved,” he said in Toronto.
LeBlanc is also acting as Public Safety Minister and a number of other ministers are temporarily working in more than one role as a result of recent departures. Trudeau will shuffle his cabinet on Friday, domestic media reported.
Trudeau met unhappy legislators on Monday after Freeland quit and LeBlanc reiterated that the prime minister would be reflecting on what he had heard.
The leadership crisis comes at a time when Canada is bracing for the new U.S. administration of President-elect Donald Trump to go through with a promise to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports, which would plunge the economy into recession.
Leaders of the 10 provinces, who stress the need for a united Canadian response, are complaining about what they see as chaos in Ottawa.
“I’m confident that the government will remain focused on the work that Canadians want us to focus on,” said LeBlanc.
“Canadians would understandably, I think, be impatient with a government that looks at itself all the time. We shouldn’t be looking inward.”
Freeland rejected Trudeau’s offer of a role as chief coordinator of relations with the United States.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Canadian Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said someone had to be in charge of the U.S. file and that person could not be Trudeau.
“We need a quarterback – I don’t know who that is. It’s a very important question needs to be answered within the next few weeks,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Virani noted that Canada had successfully renegotiated the trilateral trade pact it has with Mexico and the United States in 2017 and 2018 after Trump came to power with a threat to tear up the deal.
“So this should give Canadians confidence that we are equal to the task and we can do this once again,” he said.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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