OTTAWA — Few spoke to reporters as Liberal MPs filed out of their emergency caucus meeting Monday evening.
That meeting, held across the street from Parliament in the Sir John A. Macdonald building, capped an extraordinary day in Ottawa that saw Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland step down from cabinet just hours before she was to present the government’s long-awaited fall economic statement.
Freeland, still a member of the caucus despite her bombshell resignation earlier in the day, quietly walked by reporters as she entered the meeting — the sound of a rousing applause making its way through the heavy oak doors as she entered.
Having snuck into the meeting through a service entrance, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was seen through a side window addressing the meeting for several minutes. PMO staffers told reporters he still intended to attend a Laurier Club fundraiser later that evening across the river in Gatineau, Que.
The few Liberal MPs who stopped to talk with reporters declined to describe what went on behind closed doors.
When asked if Trudeau was staying on as leader, chief government whip Ruby Sahota insisted he was — but declined to say if he had the confidence of caucus.
“He has my confidence,” she said, claiming that nobody in caucus asked him to step down.
“I absolutely trust him.”
Etobicoke–Lakeshore MP James Maloney said it’s healthy for caucus members to have differences of opinion.
“At the end of the day, when we come out of these meetings, we’re united, we’re all on the same team, and we support the prime minister,” he told reporters outside of the meeting, which wrapped around 6:30 p.m.
When asked if Trudeau should stay on given Freeland’s scathing resignation letter, Maloney reiterated that the party’s united.
“Minister Freeland made a decision, and I respect her, but let me just say very clearly that I have the utmost respect for Chrystia Freeland, she’s my friend and I think she did a great job as finance minister.”
He refused to say if Freeland spoke during the meeting.
Earlier on Monday, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said the government is spiralling out of control.
“Canadians were already anxious about the reckless $40-billion deficit the government had announced last spring, but today in mere hours we’re expecting to learn it’ll be much higher than that,” he said at a news conference before the government revealed the deficit was $61.9 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year ending in March.
By Monday evening, Trudeau had yet to make any public statements on the day’s events.
At his own news conference before question period, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called on Trudeau to resign, but wouldn’t commit to joining forces with other opposition parties to topple the government via a confidence vote.
“They’re fighting themselves instead of fighting for Canadians — and for that reason I’m calling on Justin Trudeau to resign,” Singh told reporters.
“He has to go.”
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Freeland’s resignation set the government’s plans to table the fall economic statement on its ear.
Just before the 10 a.m. journalists lockup was to begin at a government complex at 111 Sussex Dr., staffers told reporters the expected embargo was on hold indefinitely.
Hardcopies of the fall economic statement remained shrouded under a black cloth with staffers looking just as confused as the reporters.
The statement was presented to reporters shortly before 2 p.m., but plans to present it in the House of Commons at 4 p.m. were cancelled.