Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 17.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
There was, almost in passing, an allusion to reflecting on things. But the word that set the tone for Justin Trudeau’s reaction to yet another gut-punch by-election loss was “continue.”
“We know we have an enormous amount of work to do to regain people’s confidence in Lasalle, and people across the country who are worried by the situation they find themselves in,” the Prime Minister told reporters. “So we have lots of work to do and we’re going to continue to do it.”
This was a very Trudeau-esque acceptance of defeat in the Liberal bastion of Lasalle-Émard-Verdun: a gracious acknowledgement of the fact that so many people are having a rough time, and that for whatever reason, they’re taking it out on the government.
Mr. Trudeau’s conclusion is that he has to carry on. Continue.
What’s more, he said it would help if the public would pay closer attention – presumably because he thinks Canadians would come to their senses if only they’d snap out of their torpor.
“We need people to be more engaged. We need people to understand what’s at stake in this upcoming election,” he said. Oh sure, “there are all sorts of reflections to take,” on the result, Mr. Trudeau said, but the “big thing” is to make Canadians understand the choice they face in the next election.
Some of his cabinet ministers, it must be said, mustered an acknowledgment that the voters had sent the Liberals a message, and they had to take lessons from it. Most couldn’t actually specify what message, exactly, let alone the lessons, but it was something.
Like Mr. Trudeau, several also said they had to work harder to make Canadians understand the alternatives – in other words, to sharpen the warnings about the dangers of electing Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.
But none dared whisper the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Canadians aren’t listening to the Liberals’ message about Mr. Poilievre because they’re too consumed by being fed up with Mr. Trudeau. It certainly wasn’t something the Prime Minister was going to entertain.
Remarkably, Mr. Trudeau wouldn’t or couldn’t deliver the textbook message that prime ministers usually deliver when by-election voters rub their noses in the dirt: I’ve heard you loud and clear and things are going to change. Mr. Trudeau didn’t even crack a window for the prospect of change. Continue.
This wasn’t the first time voters in a Liberal bastion had snubbed the party they usually support. Liberals suffered a shock defeat in the June 24 by-election in Toronto-St. Paul’s that led to a round of calls for Mr. Trudeau to quit from party poohbahs, former ministers and one sitting MP.
The difference with Lasalle-Émard-Verdun is apparently that Liberals have gotten used to seeing the telltale signs of pending political disaster.
Mr. Trudeau woke up after a second such loss and decided there’s no need to signal that he – the Prime Minister – should do anything differently.
Of course, after nine years in power, it’s not easy for Mr. Trudeau to offer a course correction that would magically turn Liberal fortunes around.
Last year, he cut seven ministers of his cabinet in a bid to bring in new faces. Two of the departing ministers resigned their seats in the Commons – opening them up for by-elections in Toronto-St. Paul’s and Lasalle-Émard-Verdun that turned into debacles for Mr. Trudeau’s party.
But it was striking that it was the Prime Minister who was off-message the day after the second shocking by-election loss in just three months.
The Liberal ministers coming and going from a cabinet meeting Tuesday sometimes played down the proportions of the loss but said the government has to respond to voters’ frustrations.
The message from the Prime Minister in recent weeks hasn’t been that. It’s been about his zeal to carry on: that he’s keen to fight Mr. Poilievre on the campaign trail, that he is raring to go.
The questions about whether he should lead the Liberal Party into the next election have been in the air for two years, but his instinct when challenged is to double down. He’s made it a point of pride to stare past critics, and not listen to the naysayers.
But when you’re way behind in the polls and beaten twice on your own political turf, the people are telling you they want something different. Mr. Trudeau doesn’t want to hear it.