A Liberal MP who has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign says the “vast majority” of caucus colleagues he’s spoken to feel the same way.
Trudeau’s leadership has been on shaky ground for months, but it became more unstable Monday after his longtime ally Chrystia Freeland resigned from cabinet, throwing the government into chaos.
A growing number of Liberal MPs have since publicly called on Trudeau to step aside and make way for a new Liberal leader ahead of a likely early election.
One of those MPs is Anthony Housefather, who says there’s “a number of reasons” why he feels Trudeau’s time is up.
“The top one is that Canadians have clearly lost confidence in him, and Canadians want him to go,” Housefather told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.
“It’s clear they’ve tuned him out, and he is not the best person to deliver the message of our party in the next election.”
An Ipsos poll conducted for Global News and released Friday found nearly three-quarters of Canadians want Trudeau to step down, while support for the Liberals is at a near-historic low of just 20 per cent.
Just over half of Canadians told Ipsos they want an election triggered at the earliest opportunity, before it’s scheduled to occur in October 2025.
Housefather said if Trudeau stays, the next election will become a referendum on whether Canadians want him to remain prime minister, rather than comparing the Liberals’ overall policy agenda with the ascendant Conservative Party.
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A new leader could help the Liberals offer “a more centrist vision” than the progressive agenda led by Trudeau, allowing the party to offer change at a time when Canadians desire it, Housefather added.
“For the vast majority of people I’m talking to you, they recognize that,” he said. “They know that we’re at a precipice. This is the last time that our leader can change, and I think that they would like that to happen.”
He added the “significant majority of MPs I’m speaking to” believe Trudeau “has no path to remain” as Liberal leader.
Housefather said if Trudeau were to resign in the coming days or weeks, the caucus could vote on an interim leader to serve as prime minister during a leadership election or even, “theoretically,” into the next election.
Canada has never before had an interim prime minister. When former prime minister Brian Mulroney faced plummeting polls and announced his retirement in 1993, he did so while saying he would step aside once a leadership convention had determined his successor, who became former prime minister Kim Campbell.
Although the Liberals’ constitution sets a 91-day period for a leadership convention, Housefather says the national executive could accelerate the timeline while still ensuring candidates get a chance to meet with Liberal members across the country.
“I think you could do that in a matter of less than two months,” he said. “I think that would be the best approach.”
Housefather said it would be “normal course” for Trudeau to prorogue Parliament until the leadership convention is completed, and a new leader can come back to the House of Commons for a Speech from the Throne.
Prorogation would dissolve all legislative business and committee activity until the next session begins.
A new Speech from the Throne, or a new declaration from the government of its vision, is required to reconvene Parliament after a prorogation and needs the support of at least one opposition party in a minority government situation.
All the opposition parties have vowed to vote non-confidence in the government at the earliest opportunity, with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh the latest to say so on Friday.
Housefather said his priority is that Trudeau step down at the earliest opportunity, regardless of what process is put in place to replace him.
“The immediate step that he needs to take, I think, is to show Canadians that he’s heard the message,” he said. “He’s done a lot of great things for the country, but this is now the time.
“All great leaders need to recognize that there’s a certain time for them to go,” Housefather continued. “I think he’s left it a little bit too late, but I think he can still preserve his legacy by doing this relatively quickly.”
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