Trudeau and the Liberals are burning time on themselves that they can't afford to waste

When Justin Trudeau became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada on April 14, 2013, he took the helm of a caucus of 35 MPs — the smallest contingent in the party's history. Twenty-four of those MPs had endorsed him during the leadership campaign.

Some 4,210 days later, the Liberal caucus gathered for its usual Wednesday morning meeting. There, the prime minister was told that 24 MPs believe it's time for him to step aside as leader.

Two dozen MPs would have accounted for fully two-thirds of the Liberal caucus in 2013. That they now account for just a sixth of the current caucus is a testament to the success the party has enjoyed under Trudeau's leadership over the last 11 years.

But it's still a blow to a prime minister who was already trailing in the polls and facing the daunting challenge of winning a fourth mandate.

It's also perhaps a reminder of how the party ended up on the precipice it occupied when it turned to Trudeau in 2013.

"Over the course of a decade in power, facing a divided opposition, the party had become focused on itself rather than on the Canadians who supported it, elected it, and had faith in it," Trudeau wrote in his autobiography, Common Ground, arguing that the Liberal Party "earned" the "drubbing" it received from Canadians.

Right now, the Liberal Party seems very focused on itself. And so it seems in great danger of earning another drubbing.

In a caucus of 152 MPs, 24 votes against the prime minister don't amount to anything obviously decisive — particularly when some of those 24 MPs are apparently still unwilling to reveal themselves, either publicly or to the prime minister.

The official tally of dissenting MPs is also less than the 30 or 40 that were rumoured. (You might have thought the would-be mutineers would have learned something from their own government's tendency to inflate expectations.)

The dissidents have given the prime minister until next week to make a decision on his future, which suggests they're willing to somehow escalate the pressure on Trudeau. But the fact they didn't specify what the consequences would be for Trudeau if he doesn't meet that deadline makes it that much harder to know how seriously to take this revolt.

The prime minister is still not in a position where he can blithely dismiss his critics, either. The potential rebellion of two dozen legislators would be a significant problem for any political leader in Canada — such public dissent is relatively rare in this country.

Trudeau also once enthused that Liberal MPs would be the voice of their communities in Ottawa. But some of those voices are now saying that, in the words of Liberal MP Sean Casey, "people have had enough."

"They've tuned him out and they want him to go," Casey told CBC's Power & Politics last week.

A month ago, Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes reported a similar sentiment.