Liberal MP who called for Trudeau to resign says his mind hasn’t changed ‘one iota’

OTTAWA — With Liberals set to gather next week for a caucus retreat, one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s MPs is once again calling for a change in party leadership.

New Brunswick Liberal MP Wayne Long first called for a change of leadership after the Liberals’ loss in the Toronto—St. Paul’s byelection in June. The downtown Toronto seat had been considered a safe seat for the party and the loss to the Conservatives led to many whispered calls for change.

Long was the only sitting MP to publicly urge Trudeau to step down at the time. This week, he said he still feels it’s time for the prime minister to go after nine years in office.

“I haven’t changed my position one iota. The prime minister does need to step down for the good of our party and for the good of the country,” he said. “We are not the Justin Trudeau Party of Canada. We are the Liberal Party of Canada.”

Long was first elected in 2015, but he is not running for re-election. He has opposed his own government several times before, on the Energy East Pipeline, on proposed tax changes for private corporations and, most recently, on the government’s decision to phase out salmon farms that operate in B.C. waterways.

Calgary Liberal MP George Chahal called for a broader caucus meeting soon after the byelection defeat, but one did not take place. Trudeau has spoken with individual caucus members over the summer and dropped into meetings of both Ontario and Quebec MPs. Long said he spoke with Trudeau over the summer and believes the prime minister understands his position.

He said Trudeau has served the country well, navigating the country through the pandemic, bringing in programs like subsidized child-care and dental care and achieving strong economic performance post pandemic, but he said every politician’s career has an end date.

“I like the prime minister. I think he has done great work, but I also recognize that we can’t win the next election under his leadership,” said Long.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has maintained a sizable lead in public opinion polls, as much as 20 percentage points, for more than a year. Long argues with a change in leadership, the Liberals could win a fourth term.

“I believe Pierre Poilievre is absolutely beatable, and I would argue there hasn’t been a leader of the official opposition who is as disliked as Pierre Poilievre,” he said.

When Liberals begin three days of meetings in Nanaimo, B.C., on Monday they will be discussing a different parliamentary landscape, now that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has announced he is leaving the confidence and supply agreement that kept the minority government in power for the past two years.

The move puts the Liberals on shaky ground as the House of Commons resumes sitting this month, needing the support of at least one other party to pass legislation and keep the government from falling in confidence votes.

The Liberals’ national campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst also announced Thursday he was stepping down, leaving a vacancy in a key position just as a threat of an early election has been heightened. Long said that is another major setback for the party.

In a statement, Broadhurst cited the toll two decades and five national campaigns have taken on himself and his family.

He said the upcoming federal election could be the most critical federal campaign of his life, and the party deserves a campaign director who can bring more energy and devotion to the job.

Long said he knows that as a backbench MP who is not re-offering he can be ignored. But he said he has gained some political skills over nine years in office and believes Canadians have simply become tired of the prime minister.

He said he hopes his colleagues speak up because absent a change, the party could be headed to disaster.

“I continue to hope some of my colleagues will be a little more vocal and say what is needed to be done,” he said. “I think we are sleepwalking to disaster if we don’t read the room as a party.”

National Post, with a file from The Canadian Press [email protected]

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