Justin Trudeau chose Jan. 6, a day fraught with significance for Americans, to announce he will depart from the Canadian Office of the Prime Minister. He did so after last year’s visit to President-elect Donald Trump ’s Mar-a-Lago club spectacularly misfired.

By suspending Parliament and promising to resign, the prime minister bought the Liberals time. But Canada will now face Donald J. Trump with a lame duck in charge.

Trudeau was under heavy pressure from Liberal legislators to quit amid polls showing the party will be crushed at the next election.

The prime minister of Canada will step-down in March as the country's leader and head of the Liberal Party, he announced Monday.

Justin Trudeau, who has led the country for nearly a decade, is giving up leadership of the Liberal party. He said he would remain in both roles until his replacement had been chosen through a party election.

Canada's governing Liberal Party will announce the country's new prime minister March 9 after a leadership vote following Justin Trudeau's resignation.

The frontrunners for the Liberal leadership are former central banker Mark Carney and ex-Finance Minster Chrystia Freeland.