Dozens of MPs in Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party have now agreed that Canada’s embattled prime minister must abandon his post after last week’s catastrophic resignation of his deputy – a sign he has completely lost support from what were crucial loyalists.
Several Canadian media outlets, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Toronto Star, reported over the weekend that 51 of Ontario’s Liberal MPs met virtually and agreed collectively that Trudeau’s time in office has expired.
There are a total of 75 Liberal MPs in the province that is the country’s most populous and represents where most of the party’s support lies, indicating the core of the Liberals have abandoned Trudeau.
Canada’s public broadcaster also reported that 21 Liberal MPs have publicly called on Trudeau to resign since the exit of Chrystia Freeland, who was his deputy prime minister and finance minister until her abrupt resignation on 16 December.
Freeland announced her departure in a letter to Trudeau that was posted on social media, where she chastised the prime minister for not taking a harder stance against Donald Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on the country that have the potential to wreck the economy.
She warned of the dangers of Trump’s “America-first” economic nationalism. She said that Canada needs to keep its “fiscal powder dry today” so they have the reserves for a “coming tariff war”.
Her repudiation of the prime minister, after being a core member of his team for over a decade, sent Ottawa into chaos and the fallout has resulted in the New Democratic party pulling its support for the prime minister, which had kept the Liberals afloat with their minority government rule.
The NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, announced on Friday that his party will oust Trudeau when the House of Commons resumes in January after the holidays, which will likely trigger a spring election if the NDP follow through.
Trump spent last week mocking Trudeau in response to the turmoil, calling him “governor”, referring to Canada as the 51st US state and crediting himself for Canada’s newly announced border security plan that seemed to be announced to nullify Trump’s tariff threat.
None of the Ontario MPs made a case for Trudeau to stay on for the next election as Liberal leader, the Star reported. Even MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, the newly announced housing minister in Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle on Friday, told the Star that whether Trudeau should remain in his position “depends” on who is available to lead.
However, many in the virtual meeting said Trudeau should be given time and space to reflect and resign on his own terms, the Star reported.
Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the “vast majority” of fellow MPs he is speaking to believe Trudeau should resign, “whether they’ve gone public or not.”
Housefather said there were fears that Trudeau would become “the ballot issue” and all but guarantee the Liberal’s being leveled in the next election.
If an election is triggered, sources told the Guardian last week that Freeland is seen as a possible contender for the Liberal leadership and her indication she is remaining in politics, as outlined in her resignation letter, is a sign she could be setting herself up to run.
