Third Liberal MP calls on Trudeau to resign
Liberal MP Sean Casey told the prime minister the party needs new leadership during a private phone call in July, citing that the electorate is no longer listening to him.
A third Liberal MP has publicly called for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign as party leader, saying that Canadians have had enough.
“People have had enough,” said Sean Casey, the MP for Charlottetown. “They've tuned him out and they want him to go.”
MP Casey told CBC News that his constituents are concerned by Trudeau at the helm for a fourth term. “The message that I've been getting loud and clear — and more and more strongly as time goes by — is that it is time for [Trudeau] to go. And I agree,” he said.
In a private July phone call with Trudeau, Casey allegedly told the prime minister the party needs new leadership. "The things he's put in place over the past nine years have been truly transformational. But the electorate are no longer listening to him," Casey recalls telling Trudeau.
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.
The Commons’ assistant deputy speaker also demanded Trudeau’s resignation, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.
“My constituents do not see Mr. Trudeau as the person who should carry the party into the next election and that’s the message that I carry,” MP Alexandra Mendès said in an interview with Radio-Canada last month.
“I didn’t hear from two, three people,” she clarified. “I heard it from dozens and dozens of people. He is no longer the right leader.”
Disgruntled Liberal MPs have held several closed-door meetings since the shocking Toronto-St. Paul's byelection loss in June, CBC News learned. MP Casey said he knew of such meetings but hasn't attended them.
The governing Liberals trail the Conservatives by some 20 percentage points, according to a state broadcaster poll tracker.
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, though MP Casey claimed not to have seen the document himself.
Casey anticipates efforts to oust Trudeau could intensify as soon as next week when elected officials return to Parliament Hill. “Those who have come to the same conclusion as me seem to be becoming more emboldened with the passage of time,” he said.
“There are a lot of people who have concerns.”
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 was the first from the Liberal caucus to openly call for Trudeau’s resignation. He penned a letter calling for “new leadership” in June.
As reported by the Toronto Star at the time, several Liberal MPs felt as Long did, but feared reprisal for putting their necks on the line. MP Casey, unlike Long and McDonald, intends to run in the next federal election even if Trudeau remains the leader. “I'm gearing for the fight,” he said.
“It's a fight worth fighting regardless of whether or not we have Justin Trudeau leading the party.”
Alex Dhaliwal
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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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