Four Liberal ministers jump ship amid calls for Trudeau's resignation

Minister of National Revenue Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal and Filomena Tassi, the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario recently told Trudeau they will not be running again.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is down four more cabinet ministers, forcing him into an imminent cabinet shuffle during a caucus revolt.

Minister of National Revenue Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal and Filomena Tassi, the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario recently told Trudeau they will not be running again.

All four of them have served in public office since 2015, with Bibeau and Qualtrough serving in cabinet positions.

Tassi disclosed her decision to leave politics is “deeply personal.” She requested a lighter workload after her husband suffered two strokes in 2022, reported CBC News.

Tassi expressed ‘deep gratitude’ for Trudeau entrusting her with several portfolios in the cabinet. “I am honoured that he believed in me and thank him for his understanding and empathy,” the minister said. “I believed in him in 2015 and I believe in him now,” she added.

Qualtrough, who worked on the disability file, also expressed gratitude for having Trudeau’s trust, while Vandal praised his work on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Vandal, a Métis MP and Manitoba representative in cabinet, earlier opposed Trudeau’s appointment of Charles Adler to the Senate. Adler, in a series of 1999 radio commentaries, described Indigenous people as “boneheads” living in lawless “ghettos” and dependent on welfare.

“There are many eminently qualified Manitobans better suited to represent our province than Charles Adler,” the outgoing minister said in August.

A government source confirmed Minister Bibeau, who remains out of the country until next week, will not run again. She previously hinted at a run for municipal politics in Sherbrooke at the end of her term.

The source confirmed each minister had “highly personal reasons” for not running again, without mention of Trudeau’s leadership, reported the National Post.

On Friday, a reporter asked Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland what the mass exodus means amid lagging Liberal stock in the polls and a brewing caucus revolt.

“Every single one of my colleagues who's made the very difficult and serious decision not to run again is a person I really respect and is a person I have worked with very closely. So it's a personal loss for me,” Freeland replied.

“These are really hard-working, dedicated, hated elected people who have given so much to work hard to serve their constituents and serve their Canadians,” she added. “Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication.”

The timing of the exodus raised some eyebrows, amid reports that dozens of Liberal MPs would formalize calls for Trudeau to step down next week. It remains unclear whether the imminent cabinet shuffle will discourage dissenters from coming forward.

One Liberal MP, who spoke with the Post on the condition of anonymity, said it was “not unreasonable” to connect the two. “Tactically, it makes sense … to hold the carrot of a probable cabinet post for people to keep their mouths shut,” they said.

The MP wonders how long those cabinet appointments would last amid ongoing threats of an early election, including several Conservative non-confidence motions expected for the fall, and a pledge by the Bloc Québécois to bring down the government if two of their bills do not become law by October 29.

The departure of four more ministers is in addition to the several Liberal MPs who have either resigned from federal politics or do not intend to run again in the next election.

Seamus O’Regan earlier resigned from cabinet this summer for personal reasons, followed by Pablo Rodriguez, who left the Liberal caucus to run for the Quebec Liberal Party leadership.

Liberal MP Ken McDonald, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Radio-Canada on January 24 that Liberal MPs should reassess Trudeau's position given “there's almost a hatred out there right now” for the prime minister. He walked back those comments the following day.

MP Wayne Long, the first Liberal MP to openly call for Trudeau’s resignation, penned a letter calling for “new leadership” in June. Neither Long nor McDonald are seeking re-election.

Moreover, disgruntled Liberal MPs have held several closed-door meetings since the shocking Toronto-St. Paul's byelection loss in June, CBC learned. 

A group of backbench MPs, mostly from Atlantic Canada and Ontario, were in discussions last week to ask that Trudeau step down as face of the party, reported CTV News. Half a dozen MPs, who spoke with CTV on the condition of anonymity, said they heard “about 30 people are signing” a letter formalizing the resignation calls

The governing Liberals trail the Conservatives by some 20 percentage points, according to a state broadcaster poll tracker.

The Liberal share of the popular vote has dwindled each term Trudeau has remained in office. Since winning its lone majority government in 2015, the party has lost 1.4 million votes, from 6.9 million to 5.5 million.

Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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