Trudeau insists he will lead his Liberals to victory in the next election amid fading popularity

Amid the growing pressure to save his seat, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he will lead his Liberal Party to victory in the upcoming elections. The Canadian premier dismissed reports suggesting that some of his party members are requesting him to not run for re-election. Trudeau’s proclamation also came as his popularity nosedives in the country.

On Wednesday, Trudeau met with his Liberal members of parliament for a meeting which went on for three hours. During the meeting, he reportedly learned that his party signed a letter signed by 20 lawmakers asking him to step down before the next elections. While speaking about the meeting, the very next day, the Canadian Prime Minister maintained that there were “robust conversations” ongoing about the best way forward, but “that will happen as me as leader going into the next election”.

It is pertinent to note that the election is significant for Trudeau since no Canadian PM has been in power for four straight terms in more than a century. The elections are also coming at the height of the Liberal Party suffering major upsets in special elections for seats representing two districts in Toronto and Montreal that the party has held for years. The losses have raised doubts about Trudeau’s leadership.

Canada to head to polls at any time

The federal elections in the region can come anytime between this fall and next October. It is important to note that the Liberals must rely on the support of at least one major party in parliament, as they do not hold an outright majority themselves.

The leader of the opposition Bloc Québécois has already maintained that his party would work with the Conservatives and the New Democratic Party (NDP) to bring down the Liberals and force the government to call for an election. The party has held the Trudeau administration to the ransom of boosting pensions.

Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, maintained that while Trudeau is facing significant pressure, his unhappy lawmakers do not have much power to force him out. “Trudeau holds all the cards. It is up to him if he wants to stay. The Liberal party revised its rules in 2016 so that the party leader is immune to any challenge to his leadership so long as he is prime minister,” Wiseman told The Associated Press.

In the latest Nanos poll, the Liberals are trailing the Conservatives by 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.

With inputs from the Associated Press.