Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives for a news conference in Montreal, on July 3. The Prime Minister was asked multiple times by media about the recent loss the Liberal Party suffered in Toronto-St-Paul's, a historic Liberal stronghold.ANDREJ IVANOV/Getty Images
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is resisting calls for an immediate meeting with his entire Liberal Party caucus in the wake of last week’s unexpected Toronto by-election loss, instead choosing to speak individually with MPs and meet with his caucus executive.
Mr. Trudeau has faced calls from MPs and party members to either meet with all of his MPs together, make major changes in his government or resign entirely after the party’s loss in the riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The defeat in the midtown Toronto riding marks the first time the Liberals have lost a race in Canada’s largest city since 2015. The results surprised the Prime Minister’s Office and Liberals across the country.
Mr. Trudeau has avoided journalists’ questions, except for one interview with the CBC, since the Conservatives won the riding considered a safe Toronto seat nine days ago, but held a press conference Wednesday in his own riding in Montreal. However, his message was much the same as the brief public statement he made immediately after the loss: a promise to continue the work the government was already doing.
“Last week’s by-election loss, not to sugarcoat it, was challenging,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau said his calls with Liberal MPs across the country have been “about how we make sure we’re continuing our work, connecting with Canadians, to make sure we’re continuing to deliver for people.”
Since the by-election loss, a group of nine Liberal MPs wrote a letter calling for an “immediate, in-person national caucus meeting” to discuss the results. New Brunswick MP Wayne Long signed the letter and also went further, calling on Mr. Trudeau to resign. He is so far the only sitting MP to publicly call for Mr. Trudeau’s exit and has already said he doesn’t plan to run in the next election.
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In Montreal Wednesday, the Prime Minister was supported by backbench MP Patricia Lattanzio and Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who told The Globe and Mail he doesn’t think Mr. Trudeau needs to hold a full caucus meeting. Former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan disagreed, saying Wednesday he needs to hold a meeting and make immediate changes. Ms. McLellan served as an adviser to Mr. Trudeau in 2019.
In his responses to reporters, the Prime Minister didn’t directly answer many of the issues raised, including why he thinks he can beat the odds and win a fourth mandate, whether MPs have directly told him to resign and if he will shake up his cabinet.
Instead, he spoke about the need for his government to deliver for Canadians on programs such as child care, housing and dental care. He used the word “continue” nearly two dozen times as he relied on similar responses to the concerns raised by MPs and senior Liberals in the government and party.
After repeated questions to clarify whether he would meet with his entire caucus, he said he held a meeting with the chairs of the various regional caucus groups on Tuesday.
“We talked about all sorts of different things that we could continue to do to deliver for Canadians and pull the team together and we will continue to engage and I will continue to be engaged with the MPs across the country,” he said.
“I am in the process of listening to all of caucus, not just those who speak with the media.”
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Mr. Trudeau has previously played down a steady stream of national polls that show voters are turned off by him and his party. But the Toronto vote was the first time previously reliable Liberal voters had weighed in on the government’s performance at the ballot box. The unexpected loss of a safe seat has scared Liberals across the country, many of whom even in good times win their seats by narrow margins.
Asked at the press conference if he still has the moral authority to lead his party, Mr. Trudeau deflected and said his conversations with MPs confirm that the government’s “priority needs to be to continue to deliver for Canadians.”
He described those talks as “frank and direct” but he declined to say whether anyone in his caucus asked him to step down in their private discussions.
Ms. McLellan, who served in both Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien’s cabinets, said her advice to the Prime Minister is that he must make fundamental changes and to “do it now.”
She said he needs to make “some pretty significant changes in the agenda and how it’s communicated and who communicates it.”
For example, Ms. McLellan said the government must focus on economic growth and its relationship to affordability.
She said if the Prime Minister sticks to the status quo, the party will be “in a very difficult situation” in the leadup to next year’s election and predicted more caucus dissension and no improvement in the polls.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the recent Toronto by-election loss was challenging, and something that his party needs to take seriously. He says following the loss in Toronto—St. Paul's, he has taken lots of calls from Liberal caucus members across Canada and is listening to what they have to say.
The Canadian Press
Those cautions were in contrast to comments made by Mr. Wilkinson. Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet colleague deferred to the course already set by the Prime Minister in the wake of the loss, saying he was reflecting on the message it sent and reaching out to caucus where needed.
“The Prime Minister continues to have the full confidence of members of cabinet and I think the vast, vast majority of caucus,” Mr. Wilkinson said.
Mr. Trudeau ended his day in Montreal with a Liberal fundraiser. Pro-Palestinian protesters surrounded one corner of the hotel outside, but their megaphones couldn’t be heard in the room inside, where the party says about 80 loyalists gathered to hear from Mr. Trudeau.
With a report from Emma Graney in Calgary
Marieke Walsh
Bill Curry
Kristy Kirkup