Jason Hollingsworth, a Strathmore-based business owner, has given his thoughts on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's resignation.
Trudeau announced that he would be stepping down as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party at a press conference on Monday (Jan. 6).
Hollingsworth, who describes himself as a fiscal and social conservative, believes the resignation is a "worst-case scenario of what could have happened."
"Politically speaking, my understanding is that the biggest hold-up on toppling the Liberal government was ultimately Jagmeet Singh and his desire to have his pension secured," said Hollingsworth. "So, Singh has been hesitant to topple the government with a non-confidence vote until he's secured that for himself and many of his elected officials."
At the same press conference as his resignation, Trudeau also confirmed that Parliament would be suspended until March 24. This means that committee work and existing bills will be halted until Parliament resumes.
"My concern is that we now have a completely ineffective or nonexistent government until the end of March, which hopefully they'll reconvene with a new leader, but at that time there's no guarantee that Singh will vote in favour of a non-confidence vote," added Hollingsworth.
"So, we may be stuck with this Liberal government until the next set election date."
Hollingsworth said that he would have preferred seeing Parliament reconvene in January and set up the non-confidence vote for late February leading to a spring election, which echoes the sentiment given by Bow River MP Martin Shields in response to the resignation.
"My fear is that with a delayed election, this will give time for the new leader to placate and cozy up to the voters of the lower Ontario region, and we might be stuck with another Liberal government for four years," said Hollingsworth. "I'm hoping they'll see through that, but unfortunately voter memory tends to be short, especially in Ontario."
Not only does Hollingsworth not believe that a change in Liberal leadership will be positive, but he also says that it could be worse.
"I don't think Mr. Trudeau really speaks with his own mind necessarily anyway. This is politics. There's a lot of people behind the scenes. I don't see it getting better with another Liberal government."
Hollingsworth and his wife have owned Back To Health Chiropractic & Wellness Clinic in Strathmore for the last 25 years. He has also dipped into politics himself, running for mayor of Strathmore in the 2021 municipal election where he lost to current mayor Pat Fule.