Trudeau is the first liberal beast to be felled by Trump. Question is: whos next? [Video]

Canada was, it was widely said, plunged into crisis after Justin Trudeau resigned as prime minister and Liberal Party leader on the first working day after the holiday break. But this is not quite true.

Canadian politics was already in crisis. It might be more accurate to present Trudeau’s resignation as offering the only way out of the crisis that had culminated last month in the summary departure of his deputy and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, and the loss of support from the last party in parliament, still shoring up his minority government.

Freeland’s resignation had laid bare a sharp policy split at the apex of the government over public spending, while the threat by Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, to propose a no-confidence vote could have toppled a government already barely able to govern.

Trudeau may have, as he said in his resignation announcement, consulted his family before making his decision, but in truth, the decision had been …