In a telling sign of what’s to come, Liberal MPs and provincial leaders are desperately trying to distance themselves from Justin Trudeau.
Following the results of the Toronto—St. Paul’s byelection, which went to a Conservative after being a Liberal stronghold for three decades, it’s clear that every single Liberal seat and position is potentially up for grabs.
Canadians don’t want Liberals in power, largely due to their leader, Justin Trudeau, and the Liberals are afraid.
Provincial Liberals distance themselves from Trudeau
On Tuesday, the day after the byelection, Ontario Liberal Party Leader Bonnie Crombie tried to distance herself from Trudeau, saying the federal party doesn’t represent her provincial party before branding herself as “more of a centrist”.
A reporter then asked her, point blank, if she’d have a better shot if Trudeau was gone. While she wouldn’t come out against Trudeau outright, having worked with him extensively, she didn’t defend him either.
She then went on to try to paint Doug Ford as Justin Trudeau’s best friend, a clear indication that she’s well aware that being associated with Trudeau is just bad politics.
Newfoundland Liberal Premier Andrew Furey was the first premier to openly come out against Trudeau, doing so in March when Canadians began rallying against Trudeau over the carbon tax hike.
Since then, BC NDP Premier David Eby has also tried to distance himself from Trudeau after the catastrophic fallout of the drug decriminalization campaign the two worked on together.
Even the mainstream media, Justin’s go-to source for misinformation and PR defence, is asking the question of when he’ll resign, with the Toronto Star printing headlines like “Justin Trudeau’s political career is over. He can walk away with dignity now or stick around to get creamed by a man he loathes”.
Liberal MPs begin plotting against Trudeau
According to CTV News’s Vassy Kapelos, four Liberal MPs have contacted her behind the scenes, requesting to stay anonymous, saying that they want Justin Trudeau out as leader as soon as this week.
Publicly, Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull deflected questions on Trudeau’s potential resignation, stating that he supports his leader but added that “[Trudeau will] have to reevaluate and look at the results of last night’s byelection and do some reflecting, but that’s up to him.”
Speaking to CBC News, another anonymous MP said, “We put everything we had into it and still lost. This is an unmitigated disaster,” referring to the byelection.
Yet another Liberal MP said that the Liberals needed to regroup immediately instead of at the end of summer or else they’ll be “writing our obituary” when they return from holidays.
This was an opinion shared by Liberal MP Jenica Atwin, who said, “It’s almost a shame that we’re not gathering as a caucus until after the summer, but I think the focus right now is on our community members.”
Perhaps worst of all, today at a news conference, Jagmeet Singh said Canadians are “done with Justin Trudeau”, possibly indicating that he’s going to end the NDP-Liberal coalition that’s been propping up Trudeau’s government.
If that were to happen, it’s likely Singh would finally stop blocking the Conservatives’ vote of non-confidence, leading to an immediate snap election.
As it stands, it looks like Trudeau’s days are numbered.
