Canada’s Corrupt Liberal Government

OTTAWA — Shock and disappointment over Monday’s byelection defeat in midtown Toronto is still rippling through federal Liberal circles, with some insiders stating their party has veered too far from the political centre and gained a damaging association with the “woke” left.

It’s one of the many factors Liberals are pointing at — alongside souring views on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership — to explain how they lost to Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives on Monday, in a riding that has elected Liberals reliably in 10 previous campaigns since 1993.

Catherine McKenna, who served as a prominent Liberal cabinet minister under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from 2015 to 2021, says it’s time for the Liberal Party to seek a “new leader.”

“The Liberal Party isn’t about one person. It’s about the values it stands for and it’s about improving the lives of Canadians,” McKenna said in a media statement.

“The prime minister has a legacy to be proud of, but it’s time for new ideas, new energy and a new leader. There’s too much at stake in this election, especially on the economy and the climate.”

Following the Liberals’ embarrassing defeat in Toronto—St. Paul’s, Canadian politics has been consumed with a single question: should the party dump the wildly unpopular prime minister in favour of a leader who has a hope in a Winnipeg winter of holding onto government?

For Liberals and their supporters, who imagine the Conservatives are barbarians at the gates ready to smash civilization to pieces, it’s easy to see why that option could be alluring. Whatever the fortunes of the Liberal party generally, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is particularly reviled. So, it would seem some partisans believe, the public would snap out of its dalliances with Pierre Poilievre’s Tories and embrace a new leader if only it were presented with one.

Toronto-St. Paul’s isn’t really “one of the safest Liberal ridings in the country.” Safe it certainly is, having voted Liberal in every election since 1993. But 19 other ridings are as safe or safer by that measure.

Vancouver Quadra has been electing Liberals since 1984. The Toronto riding of Humber River-Black Creek, the former York West, last elected a candidate from another party in 1958. Mount Royal, on the Island of Montreal, has been solidly Liberal since 1940. Ottawa Vanier has been a Liberal riding since its creation, in 1935; in its former incarnation as Russell, since 1887.

Despite the stunning electoral turnaround in the Toronto St Paul’s byelection on June 24, Trudeau doubled down on his assertion that he is still being the man for the job.

He will not resign. His ego is too big to accept that kind of accountability. Furthermore, there are no credible replacements. No, not even the untainted partial outsider Mark Carney. As for the cabinet, it is compromised as a normal course: any pretender to the throne would have to resign from that pack.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing calls from two Chrétien-era Liberal cabinet ministers to step down as party leader, with the former MPs pointing to this week’s midtown Toronto by-election defeat as further evidence of a strong desire for change among Canadian voters.

Wayne Easter said in an interview Wednesday that Mr. Trudeau and his team of senior advisers in the Prime Minister’s Office need to make some hard decisions in light of the party’s surprise loss to the Conservatives in the former Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St. Paul’s.

In the wake of their surprise loss to the Conservatives in the Toronto-St. Paul’s byelection, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s going to remain laser-focused on helping Canadians through tough economic times.

Cabinet ministers such as Chrystia Freeland and his long-time friend, Marc Miller, said Trudeau is best positioned to lead the Liberals into the next election and they support his decision to do so.