Trudeau says Toronto by-election loss leads to reflection, but he will stay on as leader

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Liberal Party’s by-election defeat last week in Toronto is generating lots of reflection, but said he plans to continue leading the party.

Mr. Trudeau made the comment during an interview Monday with CBC News in St. John’s, where he attended ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of Newfoundland’s National War Memorial and the reinterment of the remains of an unknown Newfoundland First World War soldier.

Mr. Trudeau was asked if he planned to take part in a 10th Canada Day ceremony next year as Prime Minister given that some Liberals are calling for him to step aside in favour of a new leader.

“There’s always going to be lots of reflection after a tough loss. But there’s also so much to do and I am committed to doing the work of building a better Canada every single day. So, I look forward to next year’s Canada Day and I look forward to many more Canada Days,” he replied.

“This is the kind of work that we have to remember really, really matters. Through tough days, and there are better days, but Canadians are strong and resilient, and that’s why we keep moving forward,” he said.

The Canada Day interview was the first time Mr. Trudeau answered a question from the media since last week’s by-election loss in Toronto-St. Paul’s, where Conservative candidate Don Stewart won the riding, which had been solidly Liberal for decades.

The by-election was triggered by the departure of Carolyn Bennett, who had held the riding for more than 26 years. She was appointed as Canada’s ambassador to Denmark in January. The Liberal candidate in the by-election was Leslie Church, who was previously chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.

The results have raised alarm among some Liberals, who believe they indicate – along with national polling data showing Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party with a significant lead – that the governing party is in for a major defeat in the next federal election.

Mr. Trudeau had provided a statement to reporters in Vancouver the day after the by-election, saying it was obviously not the result the party wanted.

“I want to be clear that I hear Canadians’ concerns and frustrations,” he said last week. “It’s clear that I and my entire Liberal team have much more work to do to deliver tangible, real progress.”

Since then, a small group of Liberal MPs has submitted a written request for a national in-person caucus meeting to discuss the party’s future in light of the by-election.

Others have gone further, publicly calling on Mr. Trudeau to step down. They include sitting Liberal MP Wayne Long, former Trudeau cabinet ministers Catherine McKenna and Jody Wilson-Raybould and former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet ministers John Manley and Wayne Easter.

Mr. Trudeau’s comment Monday did not reference the calls from some MPs for a national caucus meeting. The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment Sunday on the letter from the group of MPs.

Pollster Nik Nanos said public division can be “politically lethal” for parties and will make a bad situation worse for the Liberals heading into the next election campaign.

“If parties are not united behind their leader, it’s basically similar to a vote of no confidence. Why would Canadians have confidence in a party leader if significant members of that specific party don’t have confidence? So, it just got a whole lot more difficult for Justin Trudeau to fight the next election,” he said.

The latest Nanos Research survey showed the Conservatives in front with 41.3-per-cent support, followed by the Liberals at 26.8 per cent and the NDP at 16.8 per cent.

That is based on 1,103 random interviews of Canadian adults during a four-week rolling period ending June 21. Nanos Research interviews a new group of 250 Canadians each week and the oldest sample is dropped. Such a survey is accurate to within three percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.

A Nanos Research survey conducted in June also found that Canadians are three times more likely to prefer someone else lead the Liberals in the next election rather than Mr. Trudeau.

Mr. Nanos said the next election will clearly be about change and the Liberals will need to address that in some way.

“I think the key takeaway here is that the same leader, with the same platform, is going to lose,” he said. “That scenario is almost a certain loss for the Liberals.”