Canada PM Trudeau gets a deadline by party, 'resign by October 28'

Not just India, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now become a cause of worry for lawmakers of his own Liberal party who have issued him a deadline of October 28 to step down or face unspecified consequences.

Liberal MPs have urged Trudeau to not run for a fourth term and as per a report by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), some 24 party lawmakers have signed a document calling him to go.

As per the report, for the past few weeks, anti-Trudeau Members of Parliament (MPs) have been holding meetings in secret to convince caucus members to come together and push him out of the top job to save the Liberal party from possible electoral debacle.

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Quoting sources as saying, CBC report said during the party’s caucus meeting on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, MP Patrick Weiler read a letter to Trudeau laying out the arguments in favour of the prime minister resigning now.

That demand in the letter included: “Trudeau should make a choice about his future before October 28."

The letter, however, has not been made public.

As per CBC sources, over 20 Liberal lawmakers – none being part of Cabinet – also stood up in the Liberal caucus meeting to urge Trudeau to rethink his pledge to stay on as leader into the next election.  

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Trudeau looked uncomfortable at times as MPs questioned his leadership, CBC report mentioned sources as saying, who even mentioned that the Canadian PM also got emotional at one point as he told lawmakers about the toll his long political career has taken on his three children.  

Trudeau has reportedly told caucus he would be needing some time to reflect after hearing their concerns about his viability as leader.

A different Trudeau

However, Trudeau, who got emotional behind the doors, came out of the meeting, which lasted three hours, all smiling and saying that the Liberals are “strong and united”.

Trudeau, who previously said he plans to contest again, avoided taking any questions from reporters after the meeting on Wednesday.  

Also, Trudeau is yet to sign the letter presented by the Liberal MPs and said that he was planning to consider the demands put forward.

Interestingly, no Canadian prime minister has won four straight terms in over 100 years.

‘Trudeau must listen to people’

Ken McDonald, a Liberal MP from Newfoundland, one of the 20 plus lawmakers from the party to have signed a letter asking Trudeau to step down before the next election, said: “He (Trudeau) has to start listening, listening to the people."  

As per a report by The Associated Press, quoted McDonald as saying that most of his colleagues, who are planning to contest in the upcoming Canada elections, are nervous because of poor polling numbers and the declining popularity of Liberals.  

Polls show Liberals losing the charm

As per the latest Nanos poll, the Liberals trail the opposition Conservatives 38 per cent to 25 per cent. The poll of 1,037 respondents has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Liberal party recently suffered upsets in special elections in two districts in Toronto and Montreal that have been its stronghold for years. The loss raised doubts about Trudeau’s leadership.

Interestingly, the development comes at a time when India and Canada diplomatic ties are at a new low following Trudeau’s allegation in September last year of “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.  

India strongly rejected Trudeau’s charges and termed them “absurd”.

In his comments at the media briefing last week, Trudeau, referring to findings by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), claimed that it has “clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in, and continue to engage in, activities that pose a significant threat to public safety."

“This includes clandestine information gathering techniques, coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder. This is unacceptable,” he alleged.

The Canadian prime minister said his government’s attempts to work with India did not yield any result.

India has rejected the Canadian accusations as absurd, and expelled Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.

With inputs from agencies.