By suspending Parliament and promising to resign, the prime minister bought the Liberals time. But Canada will now face Donald J. Trump with a lame duck in charge.

Trudeau came to power in 2015 when the world was fighting Daesh (also known as the Islamic State) in Syria, Paris was reeling from terrorist attacks, migrants were marching across Europe and Iran had agreed to a nuclear deal in return for sanctions relief.

The former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Mark Carney, says he is "considering" entering the race to replace Justin Trudeau as the leader of Canada's Liberal Party. Trudeau said on Monday he would step down after nine years as Canadian prime minister - following growing pressure from his own party and poor opinion polling.