Why hasn’t Justin Trudeau resigned yet?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been walking on a political tightrope for years. His balance is unsteady. The threads of the rope are fraying. Yet, somehow, Trudeau keeps managing to stay upright. 

It’s not due to skill or political savvy. That Trudeau has survived so far is mainly down to sheer dumb luck. His minority Liberal governments have survived solely because of mathematical logistics of seat tallies rather than any popular legislation he has passed. He’s faced Conservative opposition leaders who have imploded. He’s been propped up by the New Democratic party, Canada’s socialist alternative, which has supported Trudeau’s party in a supply and confidence agreement for over two years. 

Some political observers believed Trudeau’s final performance in the parliamentary big top had occurred on Monday. This was after deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland’s bombshell announcement that she had resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet. No one apparently saw it coming, including her stunned Liberal colleagues.