Attempts to put Trudeau leadership question to rest only making caucus tensions worse, MP says
CBC
One of the Liberal MPs calling for a secret ballot vote on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership says efforts by cabinet to put the issue to rest may only be increasing tensions in caucus.
In the wake of last week's Liberal caucus meeting, Trudeau has said repeatedly he's not going anywhere — even after 24 of his own MPs signed a document calling on him to resign.
Several cabinet ministers have been vocal in their support of the prime minister and have insisted that a majority of MPs are still behind him.
But Liberal MP Ali Ehsassi told CBC News Network's Power & Politics cabinet's efforts to move on may be making things worse.
"That can't be the answer to everything," Ehsassi told host David Cochrane.
"For people to come out and say, 'The overwhelming majority of people have confidence,' well that's great. I'm really happy to hear that. Put it to the test."
Ehsassi is joining a number of other Liberal MPs who are calling for caucus to hold a secret ballot vote on Trudeau's leadership. He argued that such a vote might be the only way for the party to move on.
"[If] this is an issue ministers feel strongly about and they say the prime minister does have the overwhelming support of caucus, then let's put this to the test and let's put this behind us," he said.
Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland repeated the claim that most Liberal MPs support Trudeau.
"I am absolutely confident — and more confident, after conversations in Ottawa over the past 36 hours, than ever — that the vast majority of Liberal MPs support the prime minister," she said.
When asked about the possibility of caucus having a secret ballot vote on Trudeau's leadership, Freeland rejected the idea, saying it's "just not how Liberals govern themselves."
The Liberals don't have a formal mechanism to trigger a leadership vote or review in the party's constitution.
But MP Alexandra Mendès, who joined Ehsassi on Power & Politics, said she has heard from several constituents who are concerned about Trudeau's leadership. She said a secret ballot vote — even one that affirms Trudeau's leadership — would give her something to bring back to voters.
"If we don't put this to bed in a very definite way, this will continue. We will not have answered our constituents," Mendès told Cochrane.
RCMP say a man who was reported missing near Key First Nation has been found deceased.
Christy Morin says life was never the same in Alberta Avenue after the fires began.
It's small things, like a cigarette or a pair of clean socks, Rachel Montour says, that can go a long way to make you feel more human when you’re out on the street.
Several dozen members of Windsor's Chaldean community and its supporters celebrated in the cold at the corner of Marentette Avenue and Wyandotte Street East Friday, as city officials gave a secondary name to the section of Marentette between Wyandotte and Tuscarora Street: Chaldean Way.
Allison Hill says she tries to make people’s experience at the Thunder Bay Food Bank “as pleasant as possible.”
Two years after a man went missing in Scarborough, Toronto police are renewing the investigation in hopes that the public will bring forward more information.
A musical instrument created in Guelph, Ont., has been thrust onto the international stage — or rather, screen.
More than 1,000 Maritime Electric customers are without power after high winds blew across the Island Friday night into Saturday.
The Supreme Court of Canada is deliberating a case that could shape the way sentences are handed down in cases where both the offender and victim are Indigenous, which some Nunavut lawyers say could have ramifications for the Inuit-majority territory.
A man barricaded in a former church in Welland, Ont., was taken into custody early Saturday, nearly 24 hours into a standoff that began over a fence dispute.
Peel police are investigating after a Friday night shooting in Mississauga left one person dead, police said.
Another busy construction season has come to an end in London, and the city is already looking ahead to next spring when a slew of new projects are expected to begin.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has begun to lay out publicly what he sees as boundaries when dealing with China, as his government wades into a new relationship with the economic giant.