The day before a Liberal caucus meeting where disgruntled MPs are expected to ask Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the âvast majorityâ of caucus and the entire cabinet support Trudeau.
Miller told reporters before the cabinet meeting on Oct. 22 he âabsolutelyâ believes Liberals can win the next election under Trudeauâs leadership and continue the work his government has been doing over the past nine years.
âItâs up to Canadians to decide. We have to prove it to Canadians,â said Miller. âAnd any minute spent on this garbage is a minute thatâs not spent on Pierre Poilievre and what he wants to do to this country,â he added, referring to talk of the caucus revolt.
Every minister who spoke to reporters on their way to the cabinet meeting expressed support for Trudeau. âI have absolute confidence in the prime minister, â said Ya’ara Saks, minister of mental health and addictions.
In recent days a letter has been circulating within the Liberal caucus to garner support to ask the prime minister to step down. The content has not been disclosed publicly, nor the list of names it bears.
Miller said he doesnât know the number of MPs who have signed it and described efforts behind the scenes by his disgruntled colleagues as âlacking courage.â
Ministers who were asked about the letter before the cabinet meeting said they had not seen it.
âI havenât seen letter, I guess they know my opinion on it, so I didnât get a copy of it,â said Health Minister Mark Holland.
Holland said he viewed the exercise as a âpositive thingâ and a sign of a healthy caucus.
âI think having a debate as a party about our future and where we should go is something that I welcome. I donât think thatâs a bad thing. I think itâs a sign of a strong democratic caucus,â he said.
Holland said different views need to be presented on charting the partyâs path forward and decisions need to be made by caucus members on whether they’ll stay on for the next election. âAt certain point in time, this has to resolve itself,â he said.
Senior ministers also left cabinet this year, including Seamus O’Regan at labour and Pablo Rodriguez at transport.
The moves have come as Liberals are in a precarious position in the polls, trailing the Tories by a large margin.
Trudeauâs leadership has been under increasing pressure since the loss of the byelection in the Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St.Paulâs in late June.
Since then, Liberals have lost another stronghold in a September Montreal byelection. The NDP also pulled out of its deal keeping the minority Liberals in power until June 2025.
Trudeau has so far remained committed to leading the party in the next election, scheduled for October 2025.