Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada announced on Monday that he would step down as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister, a decision that means Canada will have a new leader once his party picks a new head through a nationwide election.

"Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians," Trudeau said as he announced his decision in Ottawa, the capital.

Trudeau, who has had frayed relations with the Narendra Modi government over alleged sympathy towards Khalistani separatists and his allegations of an Indian hand in the killing of separatists on Canadian soil, said it had become clear to him that he cannot "be the leader during the next elections due to internal battles”. He planned to stay on as Prime Minister until a new leader of the Liberal Party is chosen.

“I don't easily back down faced with a fight, especially a very important one for our party and the country. But I do this job because the interests of Canadians and the wellbeing of democracy is something that I hold dear," he said.

He said Parliament, which had been due to resume on January 27, would be suspended until March 24. The timing will allow for a Liberal Party leadership race.

All three main Opposition parties have said they plan to topple the Liberal Party in a no-confidence vote when Parliament resumes, so a spring election after the Liberals pick a new leader was almost assured.

“The Liberal Party of Canada is an important institution in the history of our great country and democracy. A new Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into that next election,” Trudeau said. “I am excited to see that process unfold in the months ahead.”

Trudeau’s resignation sets off a succession battle to replace him after roughly a decade at the helm of both the party and the country.

The upheaval comes as the country is grappling with how best to deal with President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to impose crippling tariffs on all imports from Canada on his first day in office. Canada and the US are each other’s biggest trading partners.

Trudeau visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago in late November and his government has been in talks to address the President-elect’s concerns about border security, in hopes that he will reconsider his tariff threat. Trudeau has faced weeks of mounting pressure from inside his party’s ranks.

In December, Trudeau’s deputy Prime Minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, abruptly stepped down in a stinging rebuke of his leadership and stewardship of the country.

Her resignation incited a growing chorus of voices from Liberal parliamentarians asking him to step aside for the sake of the party, and let someone else lead the Liberal Party against the Conservatives in the general election.

The elections would likely be contested sometime in the spring, according to experts. General elections need to be held by October, in line with Canada’s electoral rules.

Trudeau criticised the leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, as having a bleak outlook for Canada. Instead, he said, the country needed an optimistic viewpoint and believed his party needed a different leader to confront Poilievre in the upcoming federal elections.

Trudeau has been in power since 2015, having resuscitated the Liberals, who had crashed electorally before he took over in 2013.

But he has become deeply unpopular. According to a poll released last month by Ipsos, 73 per cent of Canadians —including 43 per cent of Liberal voters — believed he should step down as party leader.

Freeland, who had been Trudeau’s most steadfast lieutenant through multiple crises, including the pandemic and disagreements with the first Trump administration, said she no longer had confidence in his leadership.