A senior federal cabinet minister says he isn’t ready to give up the ghost on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s fragile hold on both the Liberal party and the highest office in the land.Speaking in Calgary on Wednesday, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told reporters he still has confidence in the M’s ability to lead the Liberals to re-election in 2025. “Yes, I very much have confidence in the prime minister. He is the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He is the Prime Minister of Canada. And I know him very well,” he said. “He is perhaps the best campaigner that I have ever seen in this country and I have great confidence that he is going to, to yes, reflect on what voters were telling us in the context of the by-election, but it's going to actually help us to move forward in a thoughtful way both as a party and as a country.”.It comes a week after the Trudeau Liberals lost a stunning by-election in Toronto- St. Paul in a seat they had held for almost 40 years.In fact, Wilkinson said he had been campaigning in the riding the day before the vote.Although he shrugged off the result, he admitted that voters were sending the government a message.“I think it's important and I think the Prime Minister has said this for us to take the by election result very seriously. You know, obviously it was a disappointing result,” he said.“I was in the riding myself the day before the election, knocking on doors. And clearly voters were sending us a message and I think we all need to digest exactly what that is and actually reset ourselves and have a more robust conversation with Canadians about not only the things that we have been doing, but what we will be doing going forward that address some of their concerns.”.That’s despite calls from several MPs — including Calgary-Skyview MP George Chahal — for the PM to call a national caucus meeting to address questions of Trudeau’s leadership. On Friday, Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long, from New Brunswick, openly called for Trudeau’s resignation.On Wednesday, Trudeau said he had been in contact with individual MPs but refused to commit to a national caucus meeting in what was a terse and at time confrontational press conference in Montreal — the first since the by-election debacle.Although he was ostensibly in town to announce funding for a series of clean energy projects, including hydrogen and small modular nuclear reactors, it wasn’t clear if Wilkinson was dispatched to assuage the concerns of government members like Chahal.Not that it matters; he was pretty clear on what he would say to naysayers.“The Prime Minister's responsibility, obviously is to work with members of his caucus. And I know the Prime Minister, I think said this morning he has been reaching out to individual members of caucus, I expect that he will continue to do so,” Wilkinson said. “I think that is the appropriate thing for him to be doing at this point in time. And so I think he's doing what he needs to do.”
A senior federal cabinet minister says he isn’t ready to give up the ghost on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s fragile hold on both the Liberal party and the highest office in the land.Speaking in Calgary on Wednesday, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told reporters he still has confidence in the M’s ability to lead the Liberals to re-election in 2025. “Yes, I very much have confidence in the prime minister. He is the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He is the Prime Minister of Canada. And I know him very well,” he said. “He is perhaps the best campaigner that I have ever seen in this country and I have great confidence that he is going to, to yes, reflect on what voters were telling us in the context of the by-election, but it's going to actually help us to move forward in a thoughtful way both as a party and as a country.”.It comes a week after the Trudeau Liberals lost a stunning by-election in Toronto- St. Paul in a seat they had held for almost 40 years.In fact, Wilkinson said he had been campaigning in the riding the day before the vote.Although he shrugged off the result, he admitted that voters were sending the government a message.“I think it's important and I think the Prime Minister has said this for us to take the by election result very seriously. You know, obviously it was a disappointing result,” he said.“I was in the riding myself the day before the election, knocking on doors. And clearly voters were sending us a message and I think we all need to digest exactly what that is and actually reset ourselves and have a more robust conversation with Canadians about not only the things that we have been doing, but what we will be doing going forward that address some of their concerns.”.That’s despite calls from several MPs — including Calgary-Skyview MP George Chahal — for the PM to call a national caucus meeting to address questions of Trudeau’s leadership. On Friday, Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long, from New Brunswick, openly called for Trudeau’s resignation.On Wednesday, Trudeau said he had been in contact with individual MPs but refused to commit to a national caucus meeting in what was a terse and at time confrontational press conference in Montreal — the first since the by-election debacle.Although he was ostensibly in town to announce funding for a series of clean energy projects, including hydrogen and small modular nuclear reactors, it wasn’t clear if Wilkinson was dispatched to assuage the concerns of government members like Chahal.Not that it matters; he was pretty clear on what he would say to naysayers.“The Prime Minister's responsibility, obviously is to work with members of his caucus. And I know the Prime Minister, I think said this morning he has been reaching out to individual members of caucus, I expect that he will continue to do so,” Wilkinson said. “I think that is the appropriate thing for him to be doing at this point in time. And so I think he's doing what he needs to do.”
