The sign on the door of Trudeau's Papineau riding office in Montreal on Jan. 6. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he will be resigning as the leader of the Liberals and will step down once the new leader is chosen. Parliament is also prorogued until March 25.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
At the Prime Minister’s riding office, in a large building facing the Metropolitan Highway in Montreal, someone removed the word “Honourable” from the French version of “The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau” – leaving an odd blank in the sign adorning the door.
No one answered at the office on Monday, shortly after Mr. Trudeau announced outside his Rideau Cottage residence in Ottawa that he will resign as Prime Minister and Liberal Leader once his party determines a successor.
The Papineau riding, where Mr. Trudeau was first elected in 2008, is a Liberal stronghold and represents voters in a city that has been tied to the Trudeau name for decades. His father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, was born in Montreal. While the elder Mr. Trudeau was often derided by the Quebec sovereigntists who viewed him as a traitor to the province over his federalist policies, Montreal’s international airport now bears his name.
The younger Mr. Trudeau spent many of his formative years in Montreal, splitting his time between the city and the official prime minister’s residence at 24 Sussex Dr. in Ottawa. After the family moved back to Montreal upon his father’s retirement in 1984, he attended the Jesuit-run Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, where his father had also been a student.
It was also in Montreal where Mr. Trudeau rose to national prominence. After delivering a tearful eulogy for his father at his televised funeral in 2000, Mr. Trudeau emerged as a name to watch in federal politics.
Since the creation of the Papineau riding in 1947, it has been almost exclusively red, though its first MP, Camillien Houde, better known as a four-term mayor of Montreal, was an independent.
Between 1997 and 2006, Papineau was well represented on the national stage by Pierre Pettigrew, a cabinet minister under Liberal prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. Bloc Québécois MP Vivian Barbot briefly held the office between 2006 and 2008, before Mr. Trudeau eked out his first electoral victory.
Papineau is a diverse, densely populated riding of 110,000 people north of downtown comprising gentrified, hip neighbourhoods and substantial South Asian and Hispanic diasporas. According to the 2021 census, more than a third of its residents are immigrants, and 72 per cent are renters. Nearly half of them are francophones, with significant minorities of native English, Spanish, Arabic, Punjabi and Greek speakers.
After months of pressure from all sides, voters on Monday were not surprised by Mr. Trudeau’s announced departure. While some were relieved to see him go after enduring punishing inflation, others underscored the challenges he faced during his three mandates, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Donald Trump’s first term as U.S. president.
Noor Maghraoui poses for a portrait at Jarry Metro in Justin Trudeau's Papineau riding in Montreal on Jan. 6.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
At the Jarry subway station, in the middle of the riding, Noor Maghraoui, a student, said Mr. Trudeau made the right call: “He was no longer in the right position” to lead the country, she said. “I think Canada has just gotten worse, we’ve seen it with groceries, with housing, the prices right now.”
Richard Marsan, who was panhandling at the station named after the commercial strip where it sits, agreed: “I think it’s okay,” he said, speaking of Mr. Trudeau’s resignation. After nine years in office, “he must give up his position” to another contender.
Kim Pronovost poses for a portrait at Jarry Metro in Justin Trudeau's Papineau riding in Montreal on Jan. 6.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
Kim Pronovost, a social worker, said Mr. Trudeau did the best he could: “I don’t think he was worse than anyone else,” she said. “It’s not because he’s the Prime Minister that all the problems must fall on him.”
Dinora Moreno poses for a portrait at Jarry Metro in Justin Trudeau's Papineau riding in Montreal on Jan. 6.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
Dinora Moreno always votes Liberal, but now “the economy is bad,” she said. She is also dismayed by the state of the health care system in recent years. Ms. Moreno’s daughter has been waiting for a family doctor for four years, she said, but her family appreciates the federal government’s recently introduced dental-care plan.
Papineau overlaps a large part of the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough. The borough’s Mayor, Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, said in a phone interview that Mr. Trudeau is still a beloved figure locally, particularly in Parc-Extension, one of the city’s most diverse neighbourhoods.
“It will be a shock for the community,” she said. “Every time he comes to the borough, it’s an event.”
Ms. Lavigne Lalonde said Mr. Trudeau’s main legacy in the riding will be the Parc-Extension Community Centre, announced in the summer, which was made possible through federal funding: “Citizens and the community have been asking for this for 40 years,” she said.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante praised Mr. Trudeau in a post on X. Ms. Plante cited the Prime Minister’s efforts on gun control, the fight against poverty and the construction of non-market housing.
“Justin Trudeau has always been an ally of Montreal,” she wrote.
Senior political reporter Marieke Walsh analyzes the fallout of Justin Trudeau's resignation as prime minister, from the lonely visual of him making the announcement on Jan. 6 to the contenders to take his place and the very short runway they have to make an impression.
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