Freeland wants to oust unpopular Liberal leaders, revive the grassroots

'We can never again be in a position where the leader is the only person who decides who the leader is,' Freeland told reporters on Thursday.

Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland hopes to win over party members with an internal mechanism that turfs unpopular leaders.

The Toronto-area MP placed a “huge emphasis” on reviving the grassroots, arguing the decision for a leader to remain “is not [hers] alone.” 

“We can never again be in a position where the leader is the only person who decides who the leader is,” Freeland told reporters on Thursday. 

Dissenting Liberal MPs have pointed to the party’s inability to turf Trudeau as a concern for months. They have held closed-door meetings over him since last June that only intensified after key by-elections losses.

Freeland says “Liberal party grassroots members and caucus need to have the greater say in what we do and how we do it.” She hopes to avoid a similar situation by tabling much needed reforms.

Among the potential measures include an automatic leadership review at biennial conventions or granting caucus the ability to trigger a vote by the national membership, reported the National Post.

Trudeau ultimately announced his intent to resign on January 6, after the Ontario, Atlantic and Québec caucuses called on him to step down.

As it stands, a leadership review can only be initiated through a “leadership endorsement” ballot after a general election defeat. Dissenting backbenchers called for a secret ballot last fall to no avail.

Liberal Party officials earlier failed to adopt provisions of the 2015 Reform Act that would have allowed a leadership review if petitioned by at least 20% of the caucus. The same maneuver ousted Erin O’Toole as Conservative leader three years ago.

Rebel News attempted to reach the Conservative Party of Canada for comment but did not hear back at the time of writing.

Among the other promises made by Freeland include scraping the consumer carbon tax and the tax hike on capital gains over $250,000. 

She also pledged to bring back policy conventions, which would include “accountability sessions” with the leader and cabinet ministers, as well as a new policy commission and policy process.

Adding to the drama, Trudeau prorogued Parliament after failing to secure opposition support at the last minute. Its legality is being tested in court on an expedited basis.

With either Freeland or Mark Carney — her son’s godfather — slated to succeed Trudeau on March 9, the Party will have only two weeks to get its ducks in a row.

With a Throne Speech scheduled for March 24, and a subsequent confidence vote two days later, time is of the essence to secure support from the House of Commons.

Should they fail to convince either New Democrats or Bloc Québécois MPs to trust them once more, a snap election will be called. Canadians could no sooner hit the polls than 36 days after the fact.

Adding perspective: 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.

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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.

COMMENTS

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  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2025-01-27 18:29:30 -0500
    Why believe that Trudeau pet? Freeland just wants to fool voters into voting for her. It’s time people realize that all the front runners are the same as Trudeau. And the art of politics is to tell voters what they want to hear, even if it’s all lies.