As the federal Liberals continue sliding in the polls, MP Ken McDonald says it could be time for the party to conduct a leadership review of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
While Mr. McDonald did not say the prime minister should step down, he said a review would allow potential rivals for leadership of the party to step forward.
“As a party, let’s clear the air, and if people are still intent on having the leader we have now, fine,” Mr. McDonald
told CBC Radio-Canada. “But at least give people the opportunity to have their say in what they think [of] the direction the party is going.”
Mr. McDonald, who has largely attributed his 2015 election victory to Mr. Trudeau, is now questioning if the prime minister is doing more harm than good.
“I think Atlantic Canada is much the same as the rest of the country. There’s almost a hatred out there right now for Prime Minister Trudeau,” he said.
The latest polls
from Angus Reid show that the Liberal Party has the support of just 24 percent of Canadians, while the NDP has 20 percent support. The Conservatives top the polls with 41 percent support. Mr. Trudeau has the support of 32 percent of Canadians. Sixty-four percent of those polled said they do not support him.
This is not the first time the Newfoundland MP has criticized his own party.
Mr. McDonald made headlines back in October when he broke ranks to vote in favour of a Conservative motion to scrap the federal government’s controversial carbon tax.
In an interview following that vote, Mr. McDonald said the policy is hurting rural Canadians already struggling with the cost of living crisis, and harming the Liberals’ chances of being re-elected.
“Everywhere I go, people come up to me and say, ‘You know, we’re losing faith in the Liberal Party,'” he said on CBC’s “Power and Politics.”
Later in November 2023, Mr. McDonald did not vote in favour of a similar Tory motion to scrap the carbon tax. This came after the Liberal government announced it would implement a three-year
carbon tax exemption for home heating oil and increase subsidies for electric heat pumps; a response to Liberal MPs in Atlantic ridings voicing concern on behalf of their constituents.
The prime minister has said he has no plans to step down, saying in a year-end interview with CBC News that he was “not giving up” on his leadership position.
“I am not giving up on the progressive vision of progress that we have been fighting for every single day over the past years,” he said.
According to a
November poll from Ipsos
, a total of 69 percent of Canadians thought Trudeau should step down in 2024, but 63 percent said it was unlikely he would do so. The next federal election is scheduled for 2025.
