Most Liberal MPs support Trudeau as leader: Freeland

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said she is “absolutely confident” the majority of Liberal MPs still support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader.

Her comments at a press conference in Winnipeg Friday came ahead of what promises to be a tense meeting of the Liberal caucus in Ottawa next week as a growing number of MPs try to convince Trudeau to step down.

Several media reports have uncovered efforts by some Liberal MPs to confront the prime minister at the next caucus meeting on Oct. 23, following more than a year of dismal polling and the growing fear their party will be decimated in the next election.

There is no mechanism for caucus to force the prime minister to step down as leader, and he has so far not wavered in his plans to stay on.

“I take the perspective and the ideas and the work and the contribution of each caucus member extremely seriously,” Freeland said at a press conference in Winnipeg Friday, where she was announcing the signing of a school food program deal with Manitoba. 

“In any caucus, there is going to be a wide range of views. I am absolutely confident that the vast majority of members of our caucus support the prime minister.”

Details about the exact strategy and breadth of the attempt to push Trudeau to resign remains unclear, though some MPs who have spoken to The Canadian Press on background say the number of MPs involved is significant.

Freeland expressed her own full support for Trudeau, and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said at a separate press conference Friday that he can count on her loyalty as well. 

Joly encouraged MPs to talk to the prime minister himself at the caucus meeting next Wednesday.

“He will be the one deciding,” she said. 

A fall election has looked increasingly more likely as opposition parties muse about bringing down the government in a confidence vote, and the Conservatives have locked Parliament into a weeks’ long debate over a matter of privilege in the House. 

Trudeau could avert both problems by taking the controversial step of proroguing Parliament, which some political watchers have mused would allow time for a Liberal leadership race if he were to step down.

In the meantime, the prime minister also plans to shuffle his cabinet to replace four cabinet ministers who don’t plan to run again in the next election.

One of those ministers, Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, said Friday he’s not leaving because of Trudeau or the Liberals’ re-election prospects. 

“It does not mean that I’ve lost confidence in our party or the prime minister,” said Vandal, who spoke at the same press conference as Freeland.

“In fact, I’m very confident that the polls are going to tighten up as time goes on, and I think it would be foolish to vote against our party.”