Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's summer campaign circuit will not include a stop at the Calgary Stampede. Trudeau attends a Stampede pancake breakfast in Calgary, on July 8, 2023.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Shortly after the Liberals’ shocking loss in the Toronto-St. Paul’s by-election last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s attendance at the Calgary Stampede was cancelled, according to sources with knowledge of his schedule.
Mr. Trudeau usually makes an appearance in the Conservative Party’s heartland for the Stampede; and for the past two years the Prime Minister has attended his only Calgary MP’s Stampede breakfast. But George Chahal is among the Liberal MPs who signed a letter demanding a national in-person caucus meeting in the wake of the by-election loss – a request Mr. Trudeau’s office has declined to comment on.
The Stampede is a key stop in the political summer barbecue circuit and Mr. Trudeau has attended every year since becoming Liberal Party leader in 2013 except for the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. The Stampede runs from July 5 to 14 this year.
Two Liberal sources said the Prime Minister had been expected to attend a party fundraiser on Saturday as part of his Stampede tour. However, his attendance has been cancelled.
E-mails obtained by The Globe and Mail show Liberal organizers discussing Mr. Trudeau’s attendance and then a subsequent e-mail, sent last week, stating that the Prime Minister won’t be attending Stampede this year. It provides no explanation for the decision.
A Liberal source with direct knowledge of the Prime Minister’s plans said he won’t be going to Calgary at all. They did not provide a specific reason but noted that he has events in other regions.
The Globe is not identifying the sources because they were not permitted to disclose Mr. Trudeau’s itinerary prior to it being finalized.
His no-show was first reported by digital newspaper Politico.
Mr. Trudeau’s office announced on Tuesday that he will be on a four-day trip to Washington next week for the NATO summit.
The Conservatives have scheduled a fundraiser at the Stampede on Saturday. Leader Pierre Poilievre is the headliner for the sold-out event, for which the party has had to add an overflow tent.
In a statement Mr. Poilievre’s spokesperson Sebastian Skamski said Mr. Trudeau’s no-show at Stampede “must come as welcome relief for Liberal-NDP MPs from Alberta who would prefer Justin Trudeau stay in hiding from Canadians.”
When the Prime Minister was in Calgary in early June for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting, he received a mix of heckling, booing and applause from the roomful of mayors when he defended his government’s consumer carbon price.
The June 24 upset in Toronto-St. Paul’s, which had been a safe Liberal seat for three decades, shocked the Prime Minister’s Office and senior Liberals who were expecting to win the riding again. The Liberals have been badly trailing in the polls since last summer, but the by-election loss was the first time previously reliable Liberal voters had weighed in on the government’s performance.
It’s the first time since 2015 that the Liberals have not held all of the seats in Toronto. In the wake of the upset, Liberal MP Wayne Long called for Mr. Trudeau’s ouster. Meantime, Mr. Chahal and several other MPs asked the party for an urgent, in-person meeting to discuss the loss and its implications, saying it shows traditional supporters have “tuned out.”
“The residents of Toronto St. Paul were clear in sending a message. If we claim to be listening, then our public responses are disconnected from reality,” the letter said.
“This scenario did not arise overnight, but it demands immediate attention.”
At a scrum in Moncton on Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, a close friend of Mr. Trudeau and a rumoured leadership hopeful, said he has “full confidence in the Prime Minister.” He acknowledged that the by-election loss was disappointing and said the government should assess why it lost the riding.
Asked about Mr. Long’s comments, Mr. LeBlanc said he didn’t think it was constructive to comment on what other Liberal MPs say.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s office said he will not attend the Stampede this year.
With a report from Campbell Clark
Marieke Walsh
Emma Graney