On Monday, Jan. 6. Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as Liberal leader and prime minister, as soon as a new party leader is chosen.
The Kimberley Bulletin reached out to Scott McInnis, MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke, for his reaction, who said he has "mixed feelings" about the resignation, expressing his concerns, as well as his feelings of empathy for Trudeau.
His concerns echo those of Premier Eby, and other premiers across Canada, regarding the void in federal government leadership with Donald Trump — soon to be sworn in for his second term as President of the United States — and his threats to implement tariffs on Canadian products.
"From what I'm hearing from constituents, folks are ready for a change federally," Mcinnis said. "Having said that, there are some valid concerns regarding this timeline and government operations moving forward.
"What I mean is, we have a new incoming U.S. President and essentially no functioning democracy up here. We're in a pretty weak position for the next 75 days. Ideally, a resignation followed immediately by an election would have been more democratic in my opinion. Instead, it appears at this point that Canadians are having to wait while the Liberal Party sorts itself out before we can look at the possibility of a spring election federally."
McInnis, of the Conservative Party of BC, was sworn in as the fifth MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke in November, following a neck-and-neck race in the provincial election. He now represents the riding at the Provincial level.
He said he thinks it will be "interesting to see" what happens in the coming months, in terms of how local, regional and national politics in the lead up to the election, whenever that may be. The next federal election had been scheduled to be held in October, but an earlier vote is now more likely.
"As a human being I do have some empathy for Mr. Trudeau," McInnis added. "He's had a difficult time in his personal life and it appears he's entirely lost all credibility within his team. That would be a very lonely place.
"At the end of the day however, the life of a politician is equatable to that of a professional athlete, in my opinion. We're in the big leagues where positive results are all that matters to the fans."
