Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the Liberals should not push to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying doing so would not be “fair” considering their past support of his policies.
“It’s not fair for them to just put on a new coat of paint to pretend like there’s something different,” Poilievre said during an Oct. 29 radio interview with 580 CFRA’s The Morning Rush host Bill Carroll.
“All the Liberal MPs went along with the carbon tax,” Poilievre added. “They’re all to blame for his catastrophic record, and they should all have the integrity to stand by him.”
Poilievre said the Liberals should not “slink away” from their record, and that “they should run on it with Justin Trudeau as the leader.”
The Conservative leader’s comments come amid escalating tensions within the Liberal Party, with some MPs calling for Trudeau to step down as leader.
The Liberals held a tense caucus meeting on Oct. 23 during which some MPs delivered a signed letter to Trudeau, urging him to step down while setting an Oct. 28 deadline for his decision. Trudeau announced a day after the meeting that he would stay on and lead the party into the next election.
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Sean Casey, one of the few Liberal MPs who has publicly admitted to signing the letter, told reporters on Oct. 29 that he wished there was a mechanism for the party to vote Trudeau out as leader. He said there are “an awful lot” of MPs “who aren’t saying what they’re hearing from their constituents, but are motivated by something else.”
After each election, parties have the opportunity to decide if they will avail themselves of measures contained in the Reform Act, which allows MPs to force a leadership review. The Conservatives were the only party to opt in after the last election, and those measures were used to oust former leader Erin O'Toole from his role in 2022.
The Liberals did not, leaving them no mechanism to depose Trudeau even if a majority of MPs wanted him to go.
Some Liberal MPs are now calling for a secret ballot on whether Trudeau should remain head of the party. Casey said he believed a secret vote would “allow for those people to be responsible to their constituents” and bring “finality” to the issue of Trudeau’s leadership.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in an Oct. 29 press conference she was not in favour of a secret vote on Trudeau’s leadership.
“Our party and our caucus have had many opportunities to decide our own rules for choosing a leader,” she said, adding that such a vote is “just not how Liberals govern themselves.”
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said on Oct. 22 that the “vast majority” of caucus and the entire cabinet continue to support Trudeau.
The Liberals have been trailing the Conservatives in the polls for more than a year. A Nanos Research poll from Oct. 29 suggests the Liberal Party is backed by 26 percent of Canadians, compared to the Tories’ 39 percent. The NDP has 20 percent support.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
