‘Making us look like fools’: Liberal MPs Naqvi and Arya rebuke public efforts to oust Trudeau
Liberal MPs Yasir Naqvi and Chandra Arya sent caucus-wide emails criticizing their colleagues for publicly urging Justin Trudeau’s resignation as leader, each saying that removing Trudeau would be an ill-advised political move.
Over the weekend, The Hill Times and other media reported that more than 20 Liberal MPs have been holding private meetings in recent weeks discussing Trudeau’s (Papineau, Que.) leadership, and circulating a pledge that some have signed to stand united should he resist calls to step down.
In an email to all Liberal MPs on Oct. 12, Naqvi (Ottawa Centre, Ont.) expressed his disappointment with the disgruntled MPs’ approach.
“I must confess that I am thoroughly annoyed since I have heard about this letter/pledge,” reads the email obtained by The Hill Times. “This is the kind of antics that will ensure that we lose the next election. Who will vote for a group of people who can’t even get their internal affairs in order?”
But three days after that email, on Oct. 15, Liberal MP Sean Casey (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) became the second Liberal MP to urge the prime minister’s resignation, saying the message from constituents he’s “been getting loud and clear and more and more strongly as time goes by is that it’s time for him to go.”
Naqvi’s Oct. 12 email said these efforts and open discussions are only helping the Conservative Party, which has been dominating the Liberal Party in the polls for over a year.
“In political history (in fact, in any team endeavour), no one has won by kicking the captain, and bickering within the team. It only helps the opponent,” wrote Naqvi, who is parliamentary secretary to the health minister. “I can assure you, the Conservatives are grinning ear-to-ear this morning as they read the news.”
Naqvi said under Trudeau, the government recently succeeded in passing the pharmacare bill. Rather than celebrating this accomplishment, their party has become embroiled in infighting, which he said only helps the Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.) Conservatives.
“Please stop. To my colleagues who are behind this, you are only guaranteeing that we lose the election by making us look like fools,” he wrote.
“I want to be at the doors talking about policy issues that will help my constituents, and highlight the deficiencies of our political opponents, not explain political gossip. We keep up with this and no one will listen to us or vote for us. History has shown that every single time.”
In a second email sent the same day to caucus members, Liberal MP Chandra Arya (Nepean, Ont.) also warned his colleagues that removing Trudeau at this time would be a strategic error.
Arya has previously made his dislike for Trudeau’s “too far left of centre” policies apparent, and reiterated that sentiment in his new email, obtained by The Hill Times.
“Though I am not a fan of establishment, I continue to remember [the] 2022 Liberal caucus summer retreat,” he said in reference to the retreat where top Liberals predicted that the remainder of 2022 and 2023 would pose economic challenges to the country, which would most likely result in public dissatisfaction with the government. At the same time, they forecasted that economic conditions would begin to improve in 2024 with people gradually experiencing relief from cost of living pressures.
“We are close to (or probably at) the end/destination of the arc/portage mentioned there and a positive economic story is emerging—on inflation, interest rate, easing of cost of living concerns, softening of rents and increasing consumer confidence index,” Arya wrote in the Oct. 12 email.
Arya pointed out that with the economy showing signs of improvement, it’s important to present a positive economic narrative to Canadians, rather than pursuing a leadership change.
“I am not saying good economic condition will necessarily translate into positive votes. But at least it puts Canadians in a more receptive mood—to actually and patiently listen to our success story so far, our NEW and exciting ideas, and our campaign to persuade.”
Since late last week, media reports have been suggesting a group of more than 20 Liberal MPs are calling for a change in leadership, primarily due to concerns that, for over a year, their party has been trailing the Conservatives by double-digit margins.
According to a recent seat projection by Polling Canada, if an election were held today, the Conservatives would win 224 seats, the Bloc Québécois 43, the Liberals 39, the NDP 35, and the Greens two.
Liberal MPs and insiders, speaking on the condition they not be named, say their concerns are not personal against the prime minister, but rather that Canadians have become disengaged from Trudeau. They emphasize their respect for him, but argue that their aim is to avert an electoral disaster where the Conservatives could secure a supermajority of more than 200 seats. They also point out that they are voicing their constituents’ concerns who fear that all the progress the Liberals have made on issues like pharmacare and other progressive issues will be undone if Poilievre comes to power.
One Liberal MP who supports Trudeau told The Hill Times that, based on their estimate from behind-the-scenes conversations, about 60 per cent of the caucus wants a change in leadership. However, the MP was unsure about how many would openly express this sentiment at the national caucus meeting in the prime minister’s presence. Another Liberal source familiar with these private discussions claimed that some cabinet ministers are also sympathetic to the group of 20-plus MPs calling for Trudeau’s departure, but they remain silent in the caucus room for fear of losing their positions.
Casey’s interview telling CBC News that Trudeau should step aside made him the second MP to publicly make that call. And, the same day as Casey’s interview, on Oct. 15, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal, Que.) told CTV News the party should hold a “robust caucus discussion” on whether Trudeau should lead the party in the next election.
In June, after the Liberals lost the Toronto-St. Paul’s, Ont., byelection—a traditionally safe Liberal seat—Liberal MP Wayne Long (Saint John-Rothesay, N.B.) also called for the prime minister’s resignation in an email to his colleagues. Nine MPs, including Long, sent a letter at the time to the national Liberal caucus chair, Brenda Shanahan (Châteaguay-Lacolle, Que.), requesting an in-person caucus meeting to discuss the reasons for the byelection loss, but she declined, citing “logistical” reasons.
In January, Liberal MP Ken McDonald (Avalon, N.L) publicly called for Trudeau’s leadership review, but later withdrew his comment. Both McDonald and Long are not running in the next election.
At the start of Parliament in September, the Liberals suffered a second byelection defeat in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, Que., another previously safe Liberal seat. These byelection losses have heightened anxiety among MPs who say they are seeing the polling numbers reflected in actual electoral outcomes.
By publication deadline, Trudeau had not taken questions from the media regarding his caucus colleagues calling for his resignation, but on Oct. 14 at an unrelated news conference he responded “yes” when asked if he would stay on as leader.
On Trudeau’s way back from an international summit on Oct. 11, his team learned about reports of the internal discussions. Trudeau was also on the plane, but he chose to send International Trade Minister Mary Ng (Markham-Thornhill, Ont.) to speak with reporters.
Ng expressed her disappointment with the colleagues urging Trudeau to step down.
One Liberal MP told The Hill Times that Trudeau should be addressing these questions personally, rather than leaving it to Ng, as the questions are related to the party leader. This MP also criticized Ng’s expression of disappointment with the caucus, noting that the issue is not about the caucus itself, but rather about the 20-plus MPs who are representing the sentiments of their constituents.
“The government’s harried response to the initiative is emblematic of the problem. It was incumbent on the Prime Minister’s Office to respond rather than compel Mary Ng to react on its behalf,” said the MP, who is not a part of the group of MPs asking for Trudeau’s resignation. The MP spoke on a not-for-attribution basis because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“In addition, it made no sense for her to say that she was disappointed that caucus confidentiality had been breached. This initiative was undertaken when individual MPs met outside the confines of caucus. Lastly, the MPs were simply requesting what their constituents were demanding them to do.”
On Oct. 13, the party named Andrew Bevan as new campaign director following the September exit of Jeremy Broadhurst who had stepped down after telling Trudeau he did not believe the prime minister could win the next election.
Arya’s Oct. 12 email compared the Liberal Party’s internal political situation to the U.S. presidential election, noting that the Liberals don’t have a ‘quasi-designated successor like Kamala Harris waiting.’ He cautioned that starting a leadership election at this stage would only further divide the party internally. Currently, Harris and Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump are statistically tied in polling numbers.
Toward the end of the email, he shared a story entitled “Three Feet from Gold,” with the underlying message being that after all the hard work, the Liberal Party is close to achieving success under Trudeau, but would risk losing everything if they proceeded with a new leader.
“Remember the story of “Three Feet from Gold”—the experience of a miner who, after spending years digging and toiling in search of gold, became frustrated and gave up when he believed he had reached a dead end,” wrote Arya. “The new owner continued digging in the same spot and struck a rich vein of gold—just three feet from where the original miner had stopped. In this story [the] original miner is Liberals and the new owner is Conservatives.”
arana@hilltimes.com
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