Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
“Seriously, get away from your inner circle,” Long told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday. “I don’t want to name names, but get away from people, because obviously, prime ministers are somewhat insulated.”
Those sources also told CTV News at least two dozen MPs told Trudeau they’d like him to step aside during the meeting, over the course of the first ninety minutes.
But in a press conference fewer than 18 hours later, Trudeau was adamant he’s running again, a statement which caught some in his caucus, including Long, by surprise.
“I think we had hoped for serious reflection,” he told Kapelos. “Reflection in 18 hours tells me the Prime Minister, with respect, already had his mind made up.”
Politics doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Everybody not with them, including Jagmeet Singh, recognize that the Conservative party will be a disaster for Canada. It will put the lives of real people at risk. That’s why ideological moves like what you’re describing hasn’t happened. Politics affects real people in the real world.
All this letter did is give the MPs something for their constituents to demonstrate “at least I tried”. This is nothing but MPs desperately clinging to their jobs, not desperately trying to stop the Conservative party from winning the next election.
If they cared about the latter they would be working on things that would make problems in Canada better, which is the Conservatives whole “platform”, not wasting time trying to oust the PM.