Trudeau faces internal discontent as key meeting with party MPs begins
On Monday, Liberal Party MP Alexandra Mendes told reporters that the feedback she has received from her constituents is that the PM “needs to go”
Toronto: As a key meeting with party MPs kicks off on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is contending with signs of dissatisfaction within his caucus.
On Monday, Liberal Party MP Alexandra Mendes told reporters that the feedback she has received from her constituents is that the PM “needs to go.”
While she praised Trudeau’s track record as PM, she told the French-language network Radio-Canada, “I didn’t hear it from two, three people. I heard it from dozens and dozens of people. He’s no longer the right leader.”
Earlier, New Brunswick MP Wayne Long has called from him to resign from the post before the next Federal election, which is scheduled for October 2025.
The possibility of earlier elections has also grown more distinct with the New Democratic Party (NDP) withdrawing from the ‘supply-and-confidence agreement’ with the ruling party that it had entered into in March 2022. With 154 seats in the 338-member House of Commons, the Liberals are back to minority status.
Among the highlights of the caucus retreat in the resort town of Nanaimo in British Columbia will be the formal announcement that former Governor of the Bank of England, and earlier the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, will enter the Government as a special advisor on economic issues.
In a release issued on Monday, Trudeau said, “Mark’s unique ideas and perspectives will play a vital role in shaping the next steps in our plan to continue to grow our economy and strengthen the middle class, and to urgently seize new opportunities for Canadian jobs and prosperity in a fast-changing world.”
In the recent past, Indo-Canadian MPs George Chahal from Alberta and Chandra Arya from Ontario have expressed concern over the direction of the party while continuing to proffer support to Trudeau.
Those concerns expressed by MPs are driven by worries about their own survival in the next election since the Liberals have trailed their rival Conservatives by between 15 and 20 points in opinion polls taken over the past year, placing the latter in majority territory.