Trudeau pours more cold water on his caucus detractors

Article content

OTTAWA — At least two more members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s caucus say his leadership should be put to a test through a secret ballot vote, as a deadline set by his detractors came and went on Monday.

Trudeau was asked to respond by Oct. 28 to a letter signed by two dozen Liberal members of Parliament requesting that he step aside, which sources said was read aloud to him during last Wednesday’s caucus meeting.

Article content

Sources also confirmed to the National Post that the letter presented to Trudeau did not contain the names of those who signed it, but of those who spoke during last week’s meeting. Upwards of 30 Liberal MPs expressed a desire for him to resign.

Some of his MPs now say for Trudeau to turn the page, he should allow the matter to be put to a vote.

“Given the fact that there are quite a number of MPs, quite a number of Liberals and Canadians who feel that someone else should lead the Liberal party into the next election, I think the way to move forward for the sake of party unity is to hold a secret ballot vote,” Ontario MP Yvan Baker told reporters on his way into the House of Commons.

Montreal MP Sameer Zuberi echoed that call: “A secret ball will put this to rest.”

Unlike the Opposition Conservatives, which adopted the Reform Act after the 2021 federal election, the Liberal caucus does not have a mechanism to remove a leader.

Trudeau poured even more cold water on the idea he would step down during a podcast interview aired this past weekend.

Trudeau sat down with “Inside the Village,” a weekly podcast from local news company Village Media over the weekend. His appearance there came after a tense week in Ottawa, where Trudeau faced dozens of dissenters in his caucus who called for him to resign.

Article content

Article content

He also recently appeared on Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith’s podcast where he talked about his mistakes in office and the coming election.

Here are five big takeaways from the latest 40-minute appearance, where Trudeau talked about his party’s unenviable polling numbers, the angry protests against him and some upcoming Taylor Swift shows.

He’s staying

Last Wednesday, 24 MPs presented a letter to Trudeau calling on him to resign giving him until Monday to do so. The prime minister responded within 24 hours however saying last Thursday he would lead the party into the next election.

On the podcast, he said again he will be the Liberal leader in the next election. He said the caucus conversation was a good one and despite the disagreements, his party has one common goal.

“Having seen, unfortunately, decades of Liberal disagreements and infighting, there was actually total unity in the caucus about how important it is to make sure the Liberal party wins the next election,” he said.

Article content

Trudeau said he does believe the government has to do a better job on its message, but said that would happen as an election ramps up.

“We need to make significant changes in how we engage with Canadians over the coming months. But that is part and parcel of what an election campaign is.”

He believes the polls can change

Many of Trudeau’s current caucus was first elected in the party’s come from behind win in 2015, when the party moved from third place to first and from just a few dozen seats to a majority government.

“When they signed up to run, they signed up to run for the distant, third-place party in the House of Commons, a long way from ever being able to form government.”

Trudeau replaced former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, after Harper had spent 10 years in office.

Trudeau said he didn’t win in 2015 just by replacing a tired Conservative government and his opponents won’t be able to do the same with him.

“It wasn’t enough for me to just not be Stephen Harper, because Thomas Mulcair was very much not Stephen Harper and had a lot more seats than I had going into the election. It was about the vision it was about the plan and it was about meeting Canadians where they are.”

Article content

He sees the anti-Trudeau flags

Trudeau was asked about the angry protests against him and expletive-laden anti-Trudeau merchandise and flags that have become commonplace.

He said those attacks hit different now.

“When you see an ‘F’ Trudeau flag, people don’t think about it but I do. That’s my daughter’s last name on that flag. That’s the last name that my two sons will carry throughout their lives,” he said.

He believes Poilievre is exploiting fear

Trudeau said people were more optimistic during his election in 2015, but there have been a series of massive shocks since then.

He said Trump’s first election in 2015, global economic challenges and of course the pandemic have left a mark, even on his own family.

“I’ve got a half brother who’s in a pretty bad place since the pandemic. I love him, still do, always will, but, you can’t have real conversations with him based on facts and reality.”

Trudeau said Poilievre is using issues like that to polarize the electorate.

“People are scared and it’s really easy, as Poilievre has shown, to exploit that fear, to gin up anger and instrumentalize it to try and get people mad at everyone and pointing the blame at whoever they think is responsible.”

Article content

He isn’t taking credit for upcoming Taylor Swift concerts

Last year, Trudeau tweeted at the pop mega star when she announced upcoming concert dates for her massive Eras tour, but did not have any Canadian dates.

She subsequently added dates in Toronto and Vancouver, which are set to take place next month.

Trudeau was mum on whether he will actually attend and said he is not sure if his tweets had any impact on Swift’s decision.

“If I was a good politician, I’d take full credit for it. The reality is, I don’t know how much of a difference my tweet made.”

National Post
rtumilty@postmedia.com

Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Article content