Internal pressure was mounting on Trudeau ahead of resignation, N.L. MP says

The outspoken Liberal MP for Avalon says he's glad Justin Trudeau has decided to step down. 

Ken McDonald is among the MPs from Trudeau's own party who called for his resignation, and citing mounting pressure from Liberal colleagues across Canada, McDonald says he believes Trudeau was going to step down sooner or later.

"I guess he figured this was the best time," McDonald told CBC News Monday.

"I think the pressure was getting heavier and heavier each day that we went on with Trudeau as the leader of the party," he said.

McDonald is among Liberal MPs in the Atlantic caucus who signed a letter calling on Trudeau to resign in October.

Trudeau, who became Liberal leader in 2013 and prime minister in the fall of 2015, announced his resignation on Monday, saying Gov. Gen. Mary Simon had granted his request to prorogue Parliament until March 24.

The announcement comes amid low polling numbers for Trudeau  — who, according to CBC's poll tracker, trails  Conservative Pierre Poilievre by over 24 percentage points — months of internal calls for change, and a public, high-profile resignation last month by former Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

But McDonald said he'll remember Trudeau for several key accomplishments over his nine years as prime minister, like implementing the Canada Child Care Benefit, $10-a-day childcare and the Canadian Dental Care Plan, among others.

"His time as prime minister and as a Liberal government — I think it will be remembered fondly, I think, by Canadians," he said.

While he has told Trudeau he won't be running for the party in the next election, he said, McDonald hopes to stand behind the next leader of the party in the coming months. He said he believes he has several colleagues with "prime ministerial attributes" who could step into the role, but may be waiting to announce their intentions out of respect for Trudeau.

Meanwhile, Amanda Bittner, a political science professor at Memorial University, thinks Trudeau's announcement was a long time coming given his polling numbers and public perception.

But, she believes his decision came too late and puts the party in a precarious position.

"It seems like there were a number of natural moments where a resignation might have happened in the past, and yet it didn't," Bittner said Monday.

"Can they find a new leader in the next couple of months? Sure. Is that enough time for voters to get to know that person [and]...to mount a major campaign? Maybe, maybe not."