Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declared that he will continue to lead the Liberal party into the next federal election, despite calls from party members and Liberal MPs for him to step down.
During a press conference on his party’s announcement to flip around his immigration policy in a move Liberals said would“pause population growth” over the next couple of years, Trudeau addressed the calls from some in his party asking him to resign.
“The Liberal Party has always had robust discussions about the best ways to tackle the issues facing Canadians. We are united in our desire to prevent Pierre Poilievre from cutting programs and services,” Trudeau said. “We’re going to continue to have great conversations about what is the best way to take on Pierre Poilievre, but that’ll happen with me as leader going into the next election.”
Trudeau said he and his caucus will continue to have “great discussions” on how he can best lead the party forward to counter the “growing misinformation and disinformation” he accused Poilievre of putting forward.
When asked about the divisions in his party, Trudeau responded that he doesn’t believe every Conservative MP is supportive of every other Conservative MP.
He said they all likely didn’t agree with MP Jeremy Patzer having an all-expenses trip to an “extreme right-wing” pro-life church in Florida or members of caucus meeting with German politician Christine Anderson who he called a “Neo-Nazi.”
Each Conservative MP has since denounced Anderson and apologized for meeting with her.
“Unlike the Conservative Party of Canada, we have robust conversations within our ranks about the best way to move forward,” Trudeau said. “I have a really hard time believing that all Conservative members are perfectly fine with their leader politicizing issues around national security by refusing to get a security clearance to be able to actually deal with foreign interference.”
Poilievre has stated that he would not get security clearance to read the unredacted NSICOP report as it would force him to secrecy. Instead, he advocates for the names of MPs alleged to have wittingly abetted foreign governments, including by providing known intelligence agents of those countries with confidential information, to be made public.
Poilievre also said he received foreign interference briefings on Oct. 14 through the CSIS Act, allowing the government to offer information to Canadians about specific risks of foreign interference without forcing them into sworn secrecy.
Poilievre’s Chief of Staff has also received confidential briefings on the unredacted NSICOP report on foreign interference.
The Bloc Quebecois has threatened to help trigger an election if Trudeau’s Liberals do not support its private member’s bill, raising the income Canadians aged 65 and older receive from old age security pensions by 10%.
BQ Leader Yves-Fracois Blanchet said the Government will have until next Monday to support the bill as a deadline before the party starts to push for a non-confidence vote in the Liberal government.
Trudeau said he planned to remain Prime Minister past the Bloc Quebecois’ Oct. 28 ultimatum deadline for Trudeau to support a rise in old age security funds.
