It’s gotta be tough being Justin Trudeau these days.
The Conservatives have said they plan to bring a non-confidence motion to defeat the Trudeau government as soon as Jan. 30. The Bloc Quebecois and NDP have said they believe Trudeau must go — though not all NDP MPs agree.
As if having the opposition parties against him, and the Canadian public, Trudeau also faces a revolt inside his own party.
The Liberal Party’s Atlantic caucus wants him gone. Gerry Butts, his friend of more than 30 years and former top advisor, says he won’t lead the Liberals into the next election. None of that means that Justin Trudeau is about to step down as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party.
In fact, the Liberal Party has just released a new video that makes it look like Trudeau is running again.
“Our work to build a strong economy that works for all Canadians isn’t done,” said Trudeau.
In the video, Trudeau states that we are about to enter an election year and that if Pierre Poilievre wins, key programs are at risk of being cut. He speaks of $10-a-day child care, pharmacare, dental care and the National School Food Program.
The language in the video mirrors the five different fundraising emails the Liberals sent out on Sunday alone. Emails from Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Campaign Director Andrew Bevan laid out the same arguments.
“I’m hoping I can count on your support at this crucial moment to help make sure our teams have the tools, training and technology to run winning campaigns in every part of the country next year,” LeBlanc’s email stated.
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None of this sounds like a man who is leaving, ready to give up the reins of power.
That sounds much different than the message from Trudeau’s Atlantic Caucus chair, Kody Blois. In a letter to Trudeau, Blois stated the majority of Liberal MPs from Atlantic Canada believe it is time for the PM to step down.
“Simply put, time is of the essence, and our caucus is of the view that it is not tenable for you to remain as the Leader, and that we need to allow for the necessary conversations on transition to take place,” Blois wrote to Trudeau.
There was no critique of Liberal Party policy over the past few years or claims the PM had made any mistakes. The entire reason for the Atlantic Caucus of the Liberal Party of Canada asking Trudeau to leave is that they don’t think they can win the next election with him.
Who cares about the future of the country when you have the future of the party to worry about?
A flurry of emails between Liberal MPs obtained by The Hill Times shows some MPs calling internally for Trudeau to go, cabinet minister Mary Ng defending him and others calling for Parliament to be prorogued so that the Liberal Party can hold a leadership vote in peace. Sophie Chatel, the MP for the Quebec riding of Pontiac, near Ottawa, called for a condensed leadership with Parliament shut down so that those nasty opposition parties don’t vote down the government.
“Prorogation may therefore be a necessary step to ensure stability, allowing the government to reset its agenda, facilitate leadership transition, and prepare a refreshed vision amid economic challenges and geopolitical pressures,” The Hill Times quotes Chatel as writing.
Shut down democracy to protect the Liberal Party’s hold on power! Nothing defines Liberal arrogance quite like the way they think this country and its democracy belong to them and not the people.
We are entering the third week of the crisis in leadership in this country and Trudeau still has not addressed the issue, spoken to the public or taken questions from the media. All we have is speculation on what he may do in the face of Chrystia Freeland’s resignation, sagging poll numbers and a revolt within his own party.
From this vantage point, it doesn’t look like Trudeau plans to go anywhere before he leads his party into the next election — whether that is in January, in the spring, or even next October.