Pressure mounts on the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign, with a growing number of Liberal MPs joining calls for him to resign after a chaotic week for his party.
More than 50 of the 75 Liberal Ontario MPs held an hour-long meeting Saturday to discuss the direction of their party, Global News has learned.
At the caucus meeting, few MPs spoke in favor of maintaining Trudeau’s leadership, but many spoke about the desirability of his departure, saying his brand has now become “toxic.”
Details of the Ontario caucus meeting were first reported by the Toronto Star and CBC News and those details were largely confirmed by Global News who also spoke with MPs in attendance.
Michael Coteau, chair of the Ontario Liberal caucus, was tasked with communicating the contents of the meeting to Trudeau in the hopes that he would quickly make the decision to leave.
Coteau did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.
Additionally, several Ontario Liberals, including Yasir Naqvi, Shafqat Ali and Majid Jowhari, came out in support of Trudeau as recently as last week. None of these MPs responded to requests for comment on Sunday.
Among those who attended Saturday’s meeting was Chandra Arya, who represents the riding of Nepean in Ottawa.
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On Friday, Arya released a letter he wrote to Trudeau, calling on him to “immediately step aside as leader of the Liberal caucus.”
“Although I am a center-right liberal financially and often disagree with your left-wing positions, I have always supported you since last summer, even when some of our colleagues called for your resignation “, Arya wrote in the letter dated December 20 and shared on X.
“However, it has become clear today that you no longer have the confidence of the House of Commons. Now I am reasonably certain that a majority of the Liberal caucus no longer supports your leadership.
In an interview with Global News on Sunday, Arya did not reveal what happened at Saturday’s meeting, but said it reconfirmed what he wrote in his letter.
He said that over the past 48 to 72 hours, the number of Liberal MPs who have joined calls for Trudeau to resign has “started to increase.”
“In my opinion, I think the prime minister is seriously considering doing this,” Arya said.
“The question is when – that’s the key question now, if it should be done now.”
Trudeau was in Ottawa on Sunday. His public itinerary indicated he had no public events, but his office did not respond to requests for comment or about his activities.
With the new Trump administration taking office on January 20, Arya said “time is running out” to elect a new party leader.
Chrystia Freeland, who resigned from the Liberal cabinet on Mondayis a “credible and stable” replacement, according to Arya.
“The resignation of Chrystia Freeland marked a turning point. Although I was disappointed by the timing of his announcement, I must recognize his exceptional statesmanship,” Arya wrote in her letter.
A source close to Freeland said calls for him to take over “are ahead of the curve” at this point. The source said she was home in Toronto with her family for the holidays.
Freeland did, however, attend the Ontario caucus meeting on Saturday, although she did not speak at the meeting.
Trudeau’s leadership has been fragile for months, but it became even more unstable Monday after Freeland resigned from cabinet, plunging the government into chaos.
Since then, a growing number of Liberal MPs have publicly called on Trudeau to step down and make way for a new Liberal leader ahead of a likely snap election.
One of these deputies is that of Montreal Anthony Houseferewho said the “vast majority” of caucus colleagues he spoke to believe Trudeau should resign.
In an interview with Mercedes Stephenson broadcast Sunday on The West Block, Housefather said “a significant majority of MPs I speak to” believe Trudeau “has no way of staying” as Liberal leader.
A recent Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News also shows a decline in popularity for Trudeau and the Liberals.
Nearly three-quarters of Canadians said in the Ipsos poll published Friday that Trudeau should resign, while support for the Liberals is at a near-historic low of just 20 percent.
– with files from Sean Boynton of Global News
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