Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears as a witness at the federal inquiry into foreign interference in Ottawa on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. Trudeau is expected to shuffle his cabinet yet again.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – With a simmering mutiny plot in the backbenches and four more cabinet ministers deciding not to seek re-election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s attempt to right the Liberal ship and stay on as captain is becoming more challenging.
Trudeau is expected to shuffle his cabinet again after the ministers informed the Prime Minister’s Office they won’t be running in the next election.
Filomena Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, announced Thursday she won’t be running for personal reasons.
Sports Minister Carla Qualtrough also issued a statement that she won’t be seeking re-election. She offered few details except to say that it is time for her to move on and she is excited to see what comes next. She also thanked her family and the prime minister.
A senior government source confirmed a report from Radio-Canada Thursday that National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal also won’t be on the ballot.
It’s not clear yet when the shuffle will happen.
It won’t happen before all Liberal caucus members are expected to meet on Parliament Hill on Oct. 23, a meeting that could be quite tense as several Liberal MPs are expected to push Trudeau to resign.
While the loss of several cabinet ministers isn’t good news for Trudeau, Liberal strategist Andrew Perez says the cabinet shuffle may be an opportunity to take the wind out of the sails of the caucus revolt.
“In terms of morale, if he does promote a couple or even four members from the backbench, that could be good,” said Perez, a principal at Perez Strategies.
Trudeau’s leadership has been under fire for months as the government’s polling numbers tanked alongside his approval ratings.
Trudeau has so far been steadfast in his plans to stay on as Liberal leader for the next campaign, which must happen before next October but could happen far sooner with a minority government.
Several media reports have outlined plans by several Liberal MPs to band together in an attempt to convince Trudeau to step down as leader.
It’s not clear how many MPs have signed onto the effort, or how many of those who have signed on plan to run in the next election.
There is no way for caucus to force Trudeau to step aside, but one MP told The Canadian Press on background that some MPs are discussing the possibility of calling for a secret ballot vote on his leadership at Wednesday’s caucus meeting.
Holding a leadership race with the precariousness of parliament at the moment would be risky, but if Trudeau did decide to step down he could take the controversial step of proroguing parliament in order to give the Liberals time to elect a new leader, Perez said.
In a statement on social media, Tassi expressed her support for the prime minister.
“I wish him the very best now and in the future. I believed in him in 2015 and I believe in him now,” she said.
Tassi, who was procurement minister in 2022, asked the prime minister to shuffle her into a smaller portfolio at the time for family reasons.
Since then, Trudeau has held three shuffles, including a major shakeup in the summer of 2023 that saw seven ministers leave the cabinet table.
Most of the ministers who were dropped in that shuffle had announced they wouldn’t run again, with the exception of then public safety minister Marco Mendicino and justice minister David Lametti.
Lametti resigned his seat months later, and the NDP won it from the Liberals in the following byelection.
Former labour minister Seamus O’Regan resigned from cabinet in July for family reasons, and former transport minister Pablo Rodriguez left last month to seek the Quebec Liberal leadership.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
– With files from David Cummings
