Ontario Liberal MPs call for Trudeau to step aside: ‘Time is of the essence’
Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down, with a growing number of Liberal MPs joining calls for his resignation after a chaotic week for his party.
More than 50 of the 75 Liberal MPs from Ontario held a one-hour meeting on Saturday to talk about their party’s leadership, Global News has learned.
At the caucus meeting, few MPs spoke in favour of Trudeau’s continued leadership but many spoke about the desirability that he leaves, saying his brand has now become “toxic”.
Details of the Ontario caucus meeting were first reported by The Toronto Star and CBC News and those details have largely been confirmed by Global News who also spoke to MPs who were present.
Michael Coteau, the Ontario Liberal caucus chair, was charged with communicating the contents of the meeting to Trudeau in the hopes he’d make a quick decision to leave.
Coteau did not respond on Sunday to requests for comment.
Moreover, several Ontario Liberals, including Yasir Naqvi, Shafqat Ali and Majid Jowhari, have spoken in support of Trudeau as recently as late last week. None of those MPs responded to requests for comment Sunday.
Among those who attended the meeting on Saturday was Chandra Arya, who represents the Ottawa riding of Nepean.
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On Friday, Arya released a letter that he wrote to Trudeau, calling on him to “step aside as leader of the Liberal caucus immediately.”
“While I align as a fiscally-center-right Liberal and have often disagreed with your left-leaning positions, I have consistently supported you since last summer, even when some of our colleagues called for your resignation,” Arya wrote in the letter dated Dec. 20 and shared on X.
“However, it became apparent today that you no longer hold the confidence of the House of Commons. Now I (am) reasonably certain that a majority of the Liberal caucus no longer supports your leadership.”
In an interview with Global News on Sunday, Arya did not disclose what happened at Saturday’s meeting but said it reconfirmed what he penned in his letter.
He said during the last 48 to 72 hours, the number of Liberal MPs who have joined calls for Trudeau to step down has “started increasing.”
“In my opinion, I think the prime minister is seriously considering,” Arya said.
“It’s the question of when – that is the key issue now, whether it has to be done now.”
Trudeau was in Ottawa on Sunday. His public itinerary indicated he had no public events but his office did not respond to requests for comment or about his activities.
With the new Trump administration taking office on Jan. 20, Arya said “time is of the essence” to elect a new party leader.
Chrystia Freeland, who resigned from the Liberal cabinet on Monday, is a “credible and stable” replacement, according to Arya.
“Chrystia Freeland’s resignation marked a pivotal shift. While I was disappointed by the timing of her announcement, I must acknowledge her exceptional political acumen,” Arya wrote in his letter.
A source close to Freeland said calls for her to take over were “getting way ahead” of things at this point. The source said she is at home in Toronto with her family for the holiday.
Freeland, though, did join that Ontario caucus meeting Saturday though she did not speak during the meeting.
Trudeau’s leadership has been on shaky ground for months, but it became more unstable Monday after 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 Montreal’s Anthony Housefather, who said the “vast majority” of caucus colleagues he’s spoken to feel that Trudeau should resign.
In an interview with Mercedes Stephenson that aired Sunday on The West Block, Housefather said that the “significant majority of MPs I’m speaking to” believe Trudeau “has no path to remain” as Liberal leader.
Recent Ipsos polling conducted exclusively for Global News also shows slumping popularity for Trudeau and the Liberals.
Nearly three-quarters of Canadians said in the Ipsos poll released on Friday that Trudeau should step down, while support for the Liberals is at a near-historic low of just 20 per cent.
— with files from Global News’ Sean Boynton
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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