Ben Carr has become the first Manitoba Liberal MP to publicly call for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down as his party’s leader.
The demand from the Winnipeg South Centre Grit comes as a growing chorus of Liberals turn up pressure on Trudeau to make way for a new leader.
“I do not arrive at this decision easily, nor do I make it happily,” Carr said Friday in a statement first provided to the Free Press.
SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Liberal MP Ben Carr is introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons in September 2023. Carr is the first Manitoba Liberal MP to publicly call for Trudeau to step down as his party’s leader.
“I made a commitment to act with the utmost integrity in every action I undertake.… It means to be honest, open, and to make decisions with conviction, and only after thorough and thoughtful reflection. It is with those principles in mind that today I call for a change in the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.”
As the party’s fortunes nosedived in recent months, Manitoba’s four Liberal MPs had refused to join other members of their caucus in publicly calling for Trudeau to step down.
Carr’s demand is also the first from the party’s Prairie and northern caucus, which includes not only fellow city MPs — Terry Duguid, Kevin Lamoureux and Dan Vandal — but also two from Alberta and one each from Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
Carr said he came to the decision after “daily conversations with constituents, supporters, mentors, friends, and colleagues over a prolonged period, out of which has emerged a clear belief that it is time for change.”
“I felt somehow as though I would be betraying my party, leader, and colleagues. As time has passed however, and the further I reflected on the conversations… I concluded that it is in fact the opposite, which is true,” he said.
“What I have heard consistently from the people I represent, is that they are not feeling alienated by progressive values and policies, but rather by our leadership.”
Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Lamoureux said he had not yet read Carr’s letter.
The Winnipeg North politician, first elected in 2010, is taking a different path when it comes to Trudeau’s leadership.
“At the end of the day, I have absolute confidence in the prime minister, and will support his decision,” he said.
In December, Vandal, the Liberal MP for St. Boniface, said Trudeau has earned the right to make his own decision on his future.
“I’m confident he will make the right decision and, whatever that is, it is one I will respect,” he said at the time.
Vandal’s position has not changed, a spokesman said Friday. He announced in October he will not run in the next federal election.
The Free Press has requested comment from Duguid, who was appointed sports minister in Trudeau’s cabinet last month.
Results from an Angus Reid Institute online poll, published Friday, indicate Carr is not alone in his desire to see change in the country’s highest office.
Almost half of respondents (46 per cent) said they want Trudeau to announce his resignation immediately to trigger a leadership contest, while 38 per cent would prefer him to immediately call a general election.
Angus Reid said 16 per cent of those surveyed Dec. 27-31 want Trudeau to remain prime minister for as long as the Liberals are able to hold power in a minority government.
The poll of 2,406 Canadian adults suggested the Conservatives have more support across Canada, no matter who leads the Liberals into the next vote.
If Trudeau runs again, 13 per cent of respondents said they would vote for him, while 39 per cent said they would back Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Trudeau received less support than potential Liberal leadership candidates Chrystia Freeland (21 per cent), Mélanie Joly (16 per cent) and Mark Carney (14 per cent).
JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives Friday to sign a book of condolences for former U.S. President Jimmy Carter at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.
Poilievre would have a 15-point lead over each of those potential candidates, the survey suggested.
In Manitoba, the prime minister’s support has steadily declined in recent Free Press-Probe Research polls, which also show growing momentum for Poilievre.
Trudeau enjoyed a surge in popularity before his first election as Liberal leader nearly 10 years ago, followed by fluctuating support and then a nosedive. Polls suggest support for Trudeau’s Liberals has plunged 26 percentage points over that time.
“Now, they’re at a point, I think, where they’re kind of down at their floor,” said Probe principal Curtis Brown. “It’s fatigue with the leader, fatigue with a party that’s been (in government) for a long time, and the overall economic mood.”
The most recent survey of 1,000 Manitoba adults, taken from Nov. 26 to Dec. 10, suggested the Tories could steal some Winnipeg seats in the next election, which must be held on or before Oct. 20.
More than half of respondents (52 per cent) in the quarterly omnibus poll said they would most likely support Poilievre if an election were held tomorrow.
Carr credited Trudeau for his implementation of several national initiatives — including $10 per day child care, a countrywide school food program, the Canada Child Benefit and the Canadian Dental Care Plan — but said he fears a Poilievre government would slash those programs.
“As such, I must advocate for this change of direction so that those currently feeling alienated are more strongly reassured that the Liberal candidate, and the Liberal Party, is still worthy of their support,” he said.
Lamoureux also said his focus as an MP is on Poilievre and issues such as trade and affordability.
Carr’s riding has long been one of the strongest Liberal seats in Western Canada; the Grits have held it for much of the past half-century. The previous incarnation of the riding was the one Lloyd Axworthy won in 1980, which made him the only Liberal in Western Canada in the government of then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
Carr won the seat in a 2023 byelection following the 2022 death of his father Jim, who held it previously. The late politician worked closely with Trudeau, serving as minister of natural resources, minister of international trade diversification and special representative to the Prairies.
Ahead of the September 2021 election, the Tories, led by Erin O’Toole, were favoured by 39 per cent of respondents in a Probe poll.
Trudeau’s support continued to erode last month, with fewer than one in five respondents (19 per cent) saying they were likely to support him, down from 28 per cent in the 2021 vote.
Carr was not available to comment on his statement Friday.
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