Canada: 20 dissatisfied Liberal MPs 'sign pact' to remove Trudeau as PM

Fresh trouble for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a group of lawmakers within the ruling Liberal Party in Canada, reportedly, signed a pact to remove him from the PM post. 

At least 20 dissatisfied MPs met in Ottawa this week and signed a document calling for a change in leadership, reported CBC News. 

The move comes amid the party's loss in Montreal and Toronto in the recent by-election. Reportedly, a series of secretive meetings took place among dissatisfied MPs against Trudeau, who had led Canada since 2015. 

The Liberal Party holds 153 seats in the House of Commons in Canada. 

Apart from the by-election defeat, the absence of Trudeau and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, at a recent summit in Asia provided an opportunity for frustrated MPs to convene and strategise a path forward.

Recently, Trudeau attended the ASEAN summit in Laos, where he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid diplomatic tensions between both nations.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Toronto Star, described an effort to publicly pressure Trudeau, 52, to step down. 

One MP who signed the document told CBC, "This is an insurance policy. We needed to act before the pressure from the PMO intensifies."

In September, a parliamentary pact with another party which has kept Trudeau in power fell apart. Later in the month, he survived an attempt from the opposition Conservative Party to force an election. 

After his meeting with PM Modi, Trudeau said “there’s work to do”, in an apparent reference to improve the ties between both nations. India-Canada relations became strained since Trudeau accused India’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India had refuted Canada’s claims and termed them as “absurd”.