Two MPs say that the majority of liberals want Trudeau to resign

December 23, 2024 TruthUSA

The majority of Liberal MPs want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down in the wake of last week’s resignation of his second in command, as stated by MPs Anthony Housefather and Chandra Arya.

“I see very few people that think he should stay,” Housefather said during a Dec. 22 interview with CBC. “The vast majority of people I am talking to, whether they have gone public or not, believe he needs to go.”

Housefather first called for Trudeau to step down last week, after Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned hours before she was set to deliver the Fall Economic Statement. Calls for Trudeau to resign grew louder, with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh joining the chorus, saying his party would vote in favour of a non-confidence motion to bring down the Liberal government.

Housefather said he fears that if Trudeau stays on as leader, the next election will be a referendum on his leadership as opposed to the government’s track record over the past nine years.

“We won’t be looking at Liberal programs. We won’t be looking at anything else,” he said. “It’ll be a question for voters; do they want Justin Trudeau to stay as prime minister? I think they’ve clearly come to a conclusion on that.”

Having a new leader would allow more Liberal MPs to be re-elected, Housefather said, adding that he has heard from many Canadians who want to vote for the party but who can’t support Trudeau.

“We have to be honest about that. That is clear from all of the polling data that we’ve had for the last year,” he said.

The Liberal Party has been trailing behind the Conservatives in the polls for more than a year. The latest Abacus Survey shows only 20 percent of Canadians support the Liberals compared to 45 percent for the Tories, while 67 percent want him to resign.

Housefather said while Trudeau had done an “exemplary job” for Canadians, he needs to know when to make his exit. “I think the time was a few months ago at the very latest, but I think now we’re at the precipice, and he really needs to make that decision to go for the wellbeing of the country, the party, and the caucus.”

Arya also said he had come to the conclusion that Trudeau needed to step down, but would not say how many MPs at a recent Ontario Liberal caucus meeting agreed with him.

Arya sent Trudeau a letter on Dec. 20 saying he no longer has the confidence of the majority of Parliamentarians, and that Freeland was a viable alternative to him as leader.

Arya described Freeland during the Dec. 22 interview as being a good leadership alternative, noting her track record of re-negotiating NAFTA.

Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to re-open CUSMA, formerly known as NAFTA, and has threatened 25 percent tariffs on Canada if it does not increase its border security. Arya said Freeland knows the “tools that are available for Canada and Canadians to respond to these threats.”

Liberal MP Wayne Long has also called on Trudeau to step down. He recently said 40 to 50 caucus members believed it was time for Trudeau to resign.

Trudeau told reporters following the Dec. 20 cabinet shuffle that he had just finished an “excellent cabinet meeting” focused mostly on the Canada-U.S. relationship, but did not say whether he would resign. The Liberal Party has no official mechanism to push Trudeau out as prime minister, unlike the Conservative Party that voted in early 2022 to oust leader Erin O’Toole.

The Conservatives are also calling for change. Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has written a letter to Governor General Mary Simon, urging her to recall Parliamentarians as early as possible for a non-confidence vote.

Poilievre’s Dec. 20 letter asks Simon to tell Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he must “either dissolve Parliament and call an election or reconvene Parliament” before the end of 2024 for a non-confidence vote.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.

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