The prime minister said he’s “determined” to lead the Liberal Party in the next election.
Dissenting MPs had asked Trudeau to reflect on what he heard during an Oct. 23 caucus meeting and come back with an answer about his future on Oct. 28. The prime minister confirmed to reporters the next day, Oct. 24, that he’s staying on as leader. He repeated his stance during the podcast interview.
Trudeau said that despite disagreements over leadership, his caucus is united in its desire to prevent Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre from forming the next government.
“That’s why so many Liberals are very, very passionate about saying, ‘well, listen, we’ve been behind the polls for quite a while now, do we need to do something radical to change things?’” said the prime minister.
Trudeau said he agrees “significant changes” need to happen, but primarily in relation to how his party engages with Canadians. “That is part and parcel of what an election campaign is,” he said, adding his party will try to demonstrate to Canadians how it offers better solutions to current issues such as affordability.
The prime minister said he reminded his caucus how the Liberals managed to win the election in 2015, after being relegated to third-party status amid the NDP “orange wave” in 2011.
Liberals won a majority government with Trudeau as a new leader after nine years of Conservatives at the helm.
‘New Vision’
The very few Liberal MPs who spoke out openly against Trudeau said they were disappointed he didn’t spend more time reflecting about what he heard during the caucus meeting.“I don’t think that he felt that he needed to reflect at all. I think his mind was made up,” Sean Casey told reporters in Ottawa on Oct. 24.
The MP for Charlottetown on P.E.I said neither he nor his constituents can see how Trudeau can turn it around. Nevertheless, Casey said he would now stop focusing on the leadership issue and instead work to get re-elected.
Wayne Long, a New Brunswick MP not seeking re-election, said his party needs to avoid being relegated to third place again by changing strategy.
“We think that the party needs to be refreshed, rebooted, new vision, maybe a little nudge to the centre, and we need to move forward with the new leader,” said Long on Oct. 24.
Trudeau’s decision to stay has not quelled the dissent, with Long telling The Canadian Press on Oct. 28 some MPs are pushing to hold a secret ballot vote on the leadership. The Liberal Party doesn’t have a formal mechanism to recall a leader during a mandate.
Even though he is opposed to Trudeau as leader, Long said he wouldn’t support a non-confidence motion to help topple the government. He said, however, that one of his colleagues has raised the possibility.
Poilievre said last week he spoke to some Liberal MPs who could be willing to vote against the government.
The minority Liberals need the support of the NDP or the Bloc Québécois to survive confidence votes.
The Bloc issued an Oct. 29 ultimatum to the government to pass two of its private member’s bills or risk triggering an early election.
Without support of the NDP, which has shown no interest in going into an election, the Tories and the Bloc would need the support of more than a dozen MPs from other parties or Independent MPs to topple the government.
