Who will succeed Justin Trudeau as Canada's prime minister?

Time is running out for Canada's Liberal Party, which must find a new leader before Canda's Parliament returns on 24 March — and whoever becomes prime minister might not be in the job for long.

The current prime minister, Justin Trudeau, abruptly resigned after a long and steep decline in his popularity. The driving factors behind his downfall include the soaring cost of living and housing, as well as rising immigration, but the final political blow to Trudeau was the resignation of his powerful and loyal Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland.

Trudeau has said he will stay in post until his party selects a leader to succeed him. But all three of Canada's main opposition parties have vowed to bring down the Liberal government at the first opportunity via a vote of no confidence, which would in turn trigger an election.

Here are the names coming out on top

It’s not often that central bank governors get compared to rock stars. But Mark Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada, was considered just that in 2012, when he became the first foreigner to serve as governor of the Bank of England since the institution's inception in 1694.

Carney is a highly educated economist with Wall Street experience, widely credited with helping Canada dodge the worst of the 2008 global economic crisis and helping the UK manage Brexit — and gaining a reputation along the way as a tough regulator.

While he has no electoral experience, Carney said in a statement he is encouraged by the support he has received, stating that he’s considering his decision with family over the next few days.

The recently resigned Freeland, meanwhile, is another frontrunner.

Trudeau told Freeland last month he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister but that she could remain deputy prime minister and the point person for US-Canada relations.

An official close to Freeland told the Associated Press that she couldn’t continue serving as a minister knowing she no longer enjoyed Trudeau's confidence. After she resigned, US president-elect Donald Trump called Freeland “totally toxic" and "not at all conducive to making deals".

Speaking after Trudeau's resignation, the source added that while it's far too early to make declarations, Freeland will talk to her colleagues this week and discuss next steps.

As a liberal Canadian former journalist who sits on the board of the World Economic Forum, she embodies multiple things known to irritate Trump — and as a person of Ukrainian heritage, she has also been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia, unlike many key figures in the incoming Trump administration.

Another possible candidate is the new finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc, a former public safety minister and close friend of Trudeau who even babysat the prime minister as a child. He was recently seen joining the prime minister at a dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Tense relations with the US

A new Canadian prime minister is unlikely to be named before Trump's inauguration on 20 January, an event that presents serious political problems.

The US president-elect has taken to stirring the pot with Canada, repeatedly referring to the country as the US' "51st state" and threatening to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if the government does not stem what he claims is a flow of migrants and drugs into the US.

Trump remains preoccupied with the US's trade deficit with Canada, which he has erroneously described as a subsidy. If he applies heavy tariffs on Canada as he is threatening to do, a trade war may soon follow.

By contrast, outgoing US President Joe Biden has been a close ally of Trudeau's, stating after he resigned on Monday that the US will find "no better ally, no closer partner, and no steadier friend".

"The US-Canada alliance is stronger because of him," Biden said in a statement. "The American and Canadian people are safer because of him. And the world is better off because of him."

"I am proud to call him my friend. And I will be forever grateful for his partnership and leadership."

Additional sources • Associated Press