When it comes to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s future at the helm, the writing is on the wall, in the air and on the minds of every Canadian too.
Everybody knows his time is up. Except for him.
And he has never lost before. History has shown you can never count out Trudini when he’s backed into a corner. This guy is the master escape artist. As we have seen over nine years, Trudeau spins and slithers out of everything. Big things. Huge scandals that would easily end the careers of anybody else.
He showed that skill again Monday, managing to get through the day despite being rocked by the resignation of Chrystia Freeland as finance minister and deputy prime minister citing both her demotion and what she called “gimmicks” on economic policy.
Under siege, the prime minister, whose grip on power is teetering, was able to stickhandle through the political fire, name his family friend and former babysitter Dominic LeBlanc as finance minister, go to a Liberal Party fundraiser, clear his schedule for the last day of this year for House of Commons, and start eyeing the tranquility of the Christmas break.
So what rabbit is he going to pull out of his hat this time? Even the great Houdini’s luck ran out eventually.
But Trudeau’s luck never has. Not yet. He’s never lost any election, any challenge or scandal. But the wolves are at the door. And they are piling up. And ganging up. Sticking their heads up from under the snowbank. Suddenly, brave people around him can smell his weakened position and some are flexing their muscles.
But will they have the guts to go all the way?
Trudeau ended Monday by seeing another mocking X post from incoming American president Donald Trump and losing a third straight byelection, and woke up to news that his one-time loyal Liberal caucus is starting to gather more and more names calling for him to step down as leader and prime minister and do it now.
It’s very close to being a mutiny. He lost two cabinet ministers Monday and word is dozens of caucus members are looking to pen a letter telling him it’s over. The latest high-profile former MP to mouth off about him is former environment minister Catherine McKenna, who posted to social media that “every Liberal MP should be calling on the prime minister to resign” and he “doesn’t get to spend Christmas thinking about his future.”
How many MPs will follow her suggestion he take a walk in the snow or sand? That is something Trudeau will have to watch closely. If it’s not as robust as some are channelling, he may just ignore it all like he did Monday with Freeland and march forward as if nothing happened. People may want him gone but there are not many mechanisms in place to make it happen.
While some MPs are saying they still have confidence in him, others are going for the jugular now. On with John Moore on Newstalk 1010 Tuesday morning, Liberal MP Yvan Baker of Etobicoke Centre said the best option for the government is for Trudeau to step down and it is something he said he told the PM to his face. Blood is in the water and the sharks are circling. People who already can’t pay their cost-of-living expenses and are living on credit cards to survive certainly noted the $62-billion deficit and are mindful of the potential 25% tariffs that could come on Jan. 20.
Trudeau and his government don’t seem to be steering the ship in any normal direction, if they are steering it at all. If the prime minister thinks he can sneak into Christmas and an expensive resort location in a warm climate paid for by taxpayers without addressing any of this, he may be surprised with the galvanizing onslaught of high-profile people calling for him to leave.
It’s bad. The water is around his shoulders and rising. And this is his internal situation. Never mind the 23% lead his main rival Pierre Poilievre has in the polls that should lead to exorcism of this government. Even people on the street in Ottawa were screaming at Trudeau to read the room and pack it in.
But never count out Trudini. He has got out of some tight jams before. Like the times he wore blackface, or the time they brought a Nazi into Parliament, or when he got out of an interaction with a female reporter by saying sometimes women “experience” things “differently,” or the time he didn’t say he was briefed on Chinese spies amongst parliamentarians or the 10 unnamed MPs who were influenced by China or the We Charity or SNC-Lavalin scandals.
Don’t forget about the Aga Khan island and Jamaica trips, the piano serenade and huge cost at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, the ArriveCan mess-up, the Stalinesque-style pandemic lockdowns, the Emergencies Act, and the firing of countless competent female ministers despite claiming to be a feminist.
Trudini slipped the lock on all of those juggernauts. What’s his move this time?
A reflection over Christmas and to resign with some dignity intact and offering a successor a fighting chance against Poilievre and the Conservatives in a fall vote? Or damn the torpedoes and everyone in the way and forge ahead with a winter or spring election – something that could be called as early as today to get ahead of the Trump inauguration?
Or wait until the new year to give time for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to get his pension and then call an election for March?
When you are dealing with a survivor like Trudeau, even when it looks like all is lost, you can’t count him out. As grave as it looks for him, no one will be surprised if he finds a way to get out of this.
He has done it before.