Some Liberal MPs issue an ultimatum to Trudeau: make up your mind to stay or go by Oct. 28
Some Liberals want Trudeau to rethink his commitment to stay on as leader
John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Oct 23, 2024 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 18 minutes ago
Some Liberal MPs issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday: decide in the next few days if you want to stay on as leader or face some unspecified consequences.
For weeks, anti-Trudeau MPs have been meeting in secret to convince caucus members to band together and push Trudeau out of the top job to save the party from electoral ruin.
After nine years in government, Trudeau's popularity has plummeted. The CBC Poll Tracker shows the Conservatives have a 19-point lead over the governing Liberals, a margin that suggests dozens of Liberal MPs could be out of a job after the next vote.
In that context, some 24 Liberal MPs have signed a document calling on Trudeau to go.
Sources said that document, laying out the argument for Trudeau's resignation, was read out in the party's caucus meeting on Parliament Hill today.
The document included a demand: Trudeau should make a choice about his future before Oct. 28 or face some unspecified consequences.
About 20 MPs — none of them cabinet ministers — also stood up in the Liberal caucus meeting today to urge Trudeau to rethink his pledge to stay on as leader into the next election, sources told CBC News.
"I didn't think they would put an ultimatum on the table. That shows they have a great deal of resolve here that was unanticipated," one MP told CBC News.
Sources said Trudeau looked uncomfortable at times as MPs questioned his leadership.
The prime minister also got emotional at one point as he told MPs about the toll his long political career has taken on his three children, sources said.
Sources said Trudeau told caucus he would take some time to reflect after hearing their concerns about his viability as leader.
Trudeau emerged from the meeting saying only to reporters that "the Liberal Party is strong and united."
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