OTTAWA—A second MP has gone public with a call for Justin Trudeau to step aside from the Liberal leadership ahead of the next election, while another MP says it’s time for the caucus to have a tough conversation about leadership in private.
The day after the prime minister dismissed word of a brewing caucus revolt and vowed to lead his party into the campaign, Sean Casey, the member of Parliament for Charlottetown, PEI, told CBC’s Power and Politics host David Cochrane that he supports an overwhelming call by his constituents for Trudeau to go.
“My job has always been to project the voice of the people I represent in Ottawa, to be Charlottetown’s representative in Ottawa, and not the reverse. And the message that I’ve been getting loud and clear and more and more strongly as time goes by is that it’s time for him to go. And I agree.”
Meanwhile, Montreal MP Anthony Housefather told CTV’s Power Play that he believes it is time for the Liberals to talk about who will lead the party when Canadians go to the polls in an election expected at the latest in October 2025, but it is a conversation he wishes would not play out in headlines.
“I support whoever is leader in my party at all times,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a robust caucus discussion about who the best person to lead us in the next election is, and that discussion should happen in caucus. It shouldn’t happen in the media.”
Housefather’s comments came at the end of an unrelated interview, after he was asked if he still supports Trudeau.
Until now, only New Brunswick MP Wayne Long had publicly declared his belief it was time for Trudeau to go, although the Star has reported on widespread unease in Liberal ranks about the dismal polls, and lack of party readiness for the next campaign.
More than two dozen caucus members have discussed signing a letter pledging to be part of an effort to force the issue, with some suggesting between 30 and 40 could join the effort. Casey said he had not been a part of that effort.
After the devastating Liberal byelection loss on June 24 of the Toronto—St. Paul’s seat, Trudeau made rounds of calls to calm caucus dissent. Casey said he told Trudeau directly on July 5 that while history would be kind to the prime minister, the electorate was no longer listening.
Then came another byelection loss on Sept. 16 in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun — a riding the Liberals lost to the Bloc Québécois.
MPs had been primed to expect a close call in Montreal, with party officials at the Nanaimo caucus retreat just a week earlier previewing that results would be tight.
However, sources told the Star that MPs also expected a clear response from Trudeau and his team about how the party would recover, and no clear plan has emerged.
On Sunday, the party finally named a new campaign director, Ontario veteran Andrew Bevan, to replace Jeremy Broadhurst, who himself had told Trudeau in August that he did not believe the prime minister could lead the Liberals to a fourth victory.
Casey told CBC that leadership concerns about Trudeau have replaced health care as the number one issue he encounters with voters at the door. “People have had enough. They’ve tuned him out, and they want him to go. I can’t tell you the number of people that have said to me, ‘Sean, I’m afraid of Poilievre. I want to vote for you, but I can’t.’”
Casey said he intends to run again even if Trudeau remains, but noted the Liberal leader has not yet signed his candidate nomination papers and “I think this interview may have an impact on that.”
Casey denied he was lobbying for any other would-be aspirant to Trudeau’s job.
“I’m advocating for a leadership change, not for a particular candidate,” but Casey said he believes a leadership race would spark new ideas and energy in the party.
“Quite frankly, if Justin Trudeau was to leave, there would be risk,” said Casey. “If there was a divisive leadership contest, there would be risk, but the upside of having a new leader is significantly higher than if he stays in my view.”
Housefather was one of three Liberal MPs who voted against a contentious pro-Palestine NDP motion and previously threatened to leave the Liberal caucus over the governing party’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war and rising antisemitism in Canada.
While Trudeau was away at an international summit last week, growing unease in Liberal ranks snowballed into an effort to formulate a way for Liberal MPs to push Trudeau to a decision to leave. The Liberal caucus never agreed to sign on to rules under the Reform Act that would have allowed a critical mass of MPs to force the question.
Trudeau on Monday responded tersely when asked if he intended to stay at the helm of the party, saying, “Oui. Yes.”
The question was asked during an extraordinary news conference following Canada’s expulsion of six Indian diplomats believed to be associated with intimidation and violence against Sikh Canadians.
“I had many conversations with members of my team and caucus members over the past number of days, and all those conversations were focused on the well-being and the safety of Canadians faced with these significant security concerns and allegations,” Trudeau told reporters.
“The safety of Canadians is the number one thing that any government, that any parliamentarians should be preoccupied with, and that is exactly what we’re focused on. There will be time to talk about internal party intrigue at another moment.”
