September 17, 2024 - 11:00am
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals faced yet another major by-election loss in the Montreal constituency of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun yesterday, making for two consecutive electoral setbacks within months after the loss of Toronto-St Paul to the Conservatives in June. This time, the ruling party’s candidate Laura Palestini lost by a few hundred votes to Louis-Philippe Sauvé of the separatist Bloc Québécois, the main opponent in the province of Quebec.
The Liberals not only lost but went down in a state of public disunity. The local campaign declined to use Trudeau’s face in its signage, while the MP from a nearby constituency openly acknowledged her leader’s unpopularity and called for his resignation. It also did not help Liberal morale when their national campaign chair announced his retirement just days before the vote, adding to the growing loss of confidence from within the party’s highest ranks.
This bruising defeat in a safe seat once held by the last Liberal prime minister all but confirms the downward trajectory of the Trudeau government. It comes on the heels of the recent termination of the governing agreement with the Leftist New Democratic Party (NDP), whose candidate scored third, just ahead of the fourth-placed Conservative. So far, Quebec has proven to be the jurisdiction least hospitable to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s brand of libertarian populism, meaning that Trudeau’s loss, at least in this case, might not be Poilievre’s gain.
However, even without la belle province, the national electoral map still favours the prospect of a Conservative victory. For now, the Liberals are left to make deals with the same Bloc Québécois — an entity that wishes to dismember Canada — in order to sustain their own grip on power, an entirely pragmatic arrangement that will nonetheless translate as poor political optics across the rest of the country.
Yet even as the Liberals stumble toward a predicted general election wipeout, Canada’s once-great “natural government party” saw fit to announce the appointment of former central banker Mark Carney to a senior advisory position at a caucus retreat last week, indicating perhaps that it is already looking forward to a post-Trudeau future. The timing and circumstances of Carney’s entry into partisan politics do not seem to be particularly wise, however, given the toxic nature of Trudeau’s brand, with which he is now formally associated. Why wouldn’t Carney, if he wanted to helm the Liberals, wait until after the Prime Minister’s expected thrashing to announce his political debut, from which point he can start with a clean slate, both for himself and his party?
In any event, the Liberal Party of Canada has a long history of brutal power struggles between two leader figures that play out and consume its energies just as its political fortunes wane. Even as he cosies up to Trudeau, Carney could actually be positioning himself for a swift palace coup and succession once the Liberal house of cards falls, in which case the operative principle in this apparent Trudeau-Carney alliance may be: “Keep your enemies close…”
1TrueCuencoism
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SubscribeNDP = New Democratic Party
What is different? Somebody has a plan and people congregate around them to form a party. The party is a new front, it grabs young and old alike to form an invincible United front. The leader comes to believe that he is omnipotent, his friends shy away, the party collapses.
Anything that keeps Carney’s attention focused firmly on Canada rather than the UK, where he still has influence, works for me. Their loss is our gain.
With all the ” Lock them up” rhetoric being thrown around these days
Justin Trudeau needs to be seriously scrutinized down the legal avenue because of all the criminal & illegal damage he has done to us Canadians
Maybe then we can find out who the real puppet masters are
Cherchez le Blair.
The Libs must be worried. Trudeau just granted $750 mill to Quebec to help it handle a surge in immigration, while offering $0 to the other provinces.
In fairness, the Quebecies take on a disproportionate share of Haitians. $750 mill will buy you a lot of dogs and cats. Even if it’s Canadian dollars.
To fatten them up for the grill, I take it you mean.
This Montreal-area by-election was a telltale sign of what’s in store for the Liberals. The riding is in Trudeau’s home town and has been Liberal forever. The reason there was a by-election in the first place is because the Liberal MP – and former justice minister was shuffled out of cabinet and decided to quit politics.
The Liberal candidate Laura Palestini, a local city councilor, was hand-picked by Trudeau which short-circuited the usual nomination process and that didn’t go over well either. Apparently Trudeau’s Sunny Ways visage was nowhere to be seen on any campaign literature.
Add to that, there were 91 names on the ballot and 79 of them were one-issue candidates protesting Trudeau’s broken 2015 promise for electoral reform: “This will be the last election held under the first-past-the-post system”.
Yet despite the obvious growing dislike for the man he gets more petulant and combative by the day (search YT for ‘steelworker Trudeau’) In an eerie echo of the Biden fiasco he insists every day he’s not going anywhere. Several Liberal MPs have announced they won’t be running in the next election (my own included) and Carney is a WEF/Net Zero fellow traveller so I’m not sure why he’s wasting his time. He doesn’t seem the type to want the job of re-building a party on a set course for decimation in the coming election.
I feel the subeditor missed a chance for a punnier, better headline to this rather dull yet solid article:
“Is Quebec saying ‘Tru-don’t’?”
“Quebec by-election shows that Justin might soon be ‘just out’.”
“Quebec’s vote shows Trudeau is full of crepe.”
And that he’s barely truddeauing water.
Me likey.
Carney and Trudeau, destroyers of everything they touch. Leftists seem only to want to tear down, never to build up. One has to wonder why.
They want to build a stronger state on the ruins of the one they don’t like. I mean REALLY stronger.
Young Castro was always a sham. I remember looking at my brother is despair when I asked his wife why she voted for him and she replied he was “kinda cute”.
It seemed to sum up his real value.
Perhaps in the sense that “cute” means ugly, but appealing. Except that the appeal has long since disappeared . . .
As yes – Mr. Goldman Sachs is going to fly to Canada in his private jet to explain to us the sacrifices we must make to fight climate change, fight misinformation and fight the Russians. Just what Canadians are yearning for.
Fidel Castro’s love child by Justin’s hippy mother and rock and roll groupie is a chip off the old block. Only the Canadians could be fooled for so long.