COLUMN: Think Again – Justin Trudeau must go down with the ship

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This article was published 01/11/2024 (202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All is not well in the federal Liberal caucus. At least 24 backbench Liberal MPs have signed a letter demanding that Trudeau step down as Liberal leader. No doubt many other MPs agree with this request, even if they lack the courage to speak out publicly.

The fact that the Liberals are trailing the Conservatives in the polls tells us why these MPs are worried. They don’t look forward to losing the seats whenever the next election takes place.

Their hope is that with a new leader, the Liberals might be able to regain some of their previous support. Considering the huge amount of public anger aimed directly at Trudeau, it makes sense that many Liberal MPs relish the opportunity to fight an election with a less toxic leader at the helm.

Strategically speaking, Trudeau would be wise to heed their request. It always looks better to retire voluntarily than to be thrown out by the voters. By retiring gracefully before the next election, Trudeau will be able to boast about never losing a federal election.

That’s why I don’t want him to resign. As someone who really wants the Conservatives to win the next election, I hope that Trudeau stays on as leader. He deserves to go down to defeat since this is the best way to hold him accountable for his disastrous record.

Trudeau is the prime minister who brought in the carbon tax. This tax led to basic necessities such as food and fuel becoming unaffordable. Despite pleas from many of his own party members, Trudeau stubbornly insisted on raising the carbon tax every year, thus making the affordability crisis worse than ever. For this alone, he deserves the ignominy of defeat.

But it’s not just the carbon tax Trudeau must be held accountable for. He’s also the prime minister who broke our immigration system. Prior to Trudeau, there was a cross-party consensus that immigration is a good thing for our country. Unfortunately, Trudeau’s government threw open the floodgates, thus exacerbating the current housing shortage.

Trudeau himself recently acknowledged that his government “didn’t get the balance quite right” on immigration. That is an understatement. It will take years for a new government to fix the immigration system that Trudeau broke.

We can also thank Trudeau for the unprecedented division in our country. During the pandemic, Trudeau weaponized vaccine mandates to divide Canadians—divisions that have not yet fully healed. Canadians will not soon forget Trudeau’s divisive rhetoric, his insulting tone, and his insufferable hypocrisy.

This is the prime minister who went on lavish jet-setting vacations while urging Canadians to reduce their carbon emissions, who fired former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould for upholding the rule of law, who went surfing in Tofino, BC on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and who lectures Canadians about our white privilege even though he has worn blackface more times than he can remember.

Even now, Trudeau hasn’t changed his ways. Faced with deteriorating poll numbers, the Liberals are trying to demonize the Conservatives as “anti-choice” on abortion and for being insufficiently supportive of LGBTQ rights. One wonders how many times the Liberals think they can get away with this tiresome strategy.

For these reasons and many more, I hope that Trudeau remains Liberal leader. When the Liberals go down to defeat. Trudeau should not be able to claim that if only he had stayed on, his party might have won. He must own the defeat himself.

The Liberal ship is sinking. In keeping with naval tradition, this captain must go down with the ship.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.