Trudeau's ministers are standing by him even as Liberal fortunes wane
'Absolutely not,' Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said when asked if it's time for Trudeau to go
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau still enjoys the support of his cabinet even though polls suggest the Liberal government is stuck in a losing position as it approaches the nine-year mark in office.
Reporters asked ministers assembled in Halifax this week for a cabinet retreat — a key planning session ahead of Parliament's return next month — if they still have confidence in Trudeau to lead the party after its bruising defeat in the Toronto–St. Paul's byelection. All of them said they did.
In fact, there's only been one sitting member of the Liberal caucus to publicly call for Trudeau's resignation since the party lost that one-time safe Liberal seat: outgoing New Brunswick MP Wayne Long.
338Canada, a poll aggregator, suggests the Liberals are roughly 16 percentage points behind Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives. The governing party has been down by double digits for much of the last year.
And an Abacus Data poll released last week found the Liberal Party's pool of potential voters — people who would ever consider voting for the party — is now smaller than the NDP's. (For this study, the margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.)
While the Liberals continue to struggle, there's been renewed enthusiasm for Democrats in the U.S. after an aging President Joe Biden stepped aside and Vice-President Kamala Harris took over as the party's candidate for the upcoming election.
While the Democrats under Biden were in tough against Donald Trump, Harris has closed the gap in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin only weeks after being thrown into the race — a sign that some voters are eager to back a fresh-faced candidate who's not Biden or Trump.
Asked if they had any second thoughts about keeping Trudeau on after watching what has transpired in the U.S., ministers said the Canadian political landscape is different.
"We have our own political dynamic here that is not necessarily readily comparable to the U.S.," Immigration Minister Marc Miller said.
He said Trudeau-Biden comparison is an imperfect one.
"Sometimes we borrow a little too much of our political rhetoric from the U.S. I know a lot of eyes are focused on the U.S. election, I'll focus a little more on what Canadians are saying," Miller said.
But that doesn't mean Miller doesn't have anything to say about the government's performance to this point and what it could do to improve its standing with voters.
"We have our points of view as cabinet ministers and we make them known — just not in public," he said, adding that part of Monday's cabinet retreat session was focused on political strategy.
That's a strategy that includes a renewed focus on policies Canadians say they want the government to address, Miller said, like tackling persistent affordability concerns and improving social programs.
"Canadians want to see more of that. They want to see a prime minister that cares about his country and doesn't spend his time shooting off his mouth," Miller said, referring to Poilievre.
"Absolutely not," said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland when asked if the Liberal Party could emulate what the Democrats have done in the U.S. and go with a new leader.
"All of us have tremendous confidence in the prime minister. We have confidence in him as the leader of our government, as the prime minister of Canada and we have confidence in him as our party leader — as the guy who will lead us into the next election," Freeland said.
Housing Minister Sean Fraser was also asked if the U.S. experience of replacing a leader and seeing a surge in popularity has caused him to question whether it's time for Trudeau to go.
He said his focus is "not on the personalities and politics, but the people."
Asked to clarify that he still supports Trudeau, Fraser said: "I'm gonna keep working alongside him as a good partner for my community, and we'll look forward to continuing to support him in the next election."
CBC News has reported on the frustrations of some Liberal caucus members who say the government has not made any substantive changes in the wake of the stinging byelection loss.
Some MPs have said they want Trudeau to signal he takes that defeat seriously by shaking up the cabinet and replacing senior staff, some of whom have been with the prime minister since the beginning of his mandate.
None of that change has happened and Trudeau signalled Monday it may not be coming.
What the government will do, Trudeau said, is focus on new policy proposals like the ones he announced today: a dramatic reduction in low-wage temporary foreign workers to start to curb migration, and big tariffs on Chinese-made EVs to bolster a nascent Canadian zero-emission car manufacturing sector.
"That's what Canadians are focused on and that's what we are delivering now," Trudeau said. "I think the big lesson is in responding to the things that people are actually worried about."
Freeland said she's been busy meeting with MPs over the summer months.
She told reporters that she's had face-to-face meetings with more than 70 of them since Parliament rose for its summer break.
"The message I heard is, we believe in the work that we are doing, we know we need to listen to Canadians and deliver for Canadians on key priorities," Freeland said, adding that more affordable housing and economic growth are among the issues MPs — like the Canadians they represent — want to see better addressed.
Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, the party's deputy leader, said time is up for the Liberal government.
"Canadians don't buy it anymore and they are struggling more than ever," she said from the sidelines of the retreat.
"After nine years and multiple cabinet retreats, life is still going to be unaffordable in Canada. It's more of the same," she said. "It's like Groundhog Day."
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly acknowledged the country is facing some "challenges" as affordability and inflation continue to beset Canadians — even as the latest economic data suggest both of those crises are moderating.
"We're not the only country facing these challenges, but we have to be better at it and we have to deliver results. Period," Joly said.
"The proof is in the pudding and that's what we will be working on."
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