(OTTAWA) Federal Liberal MPs are meeting until Tuesday at a New Brunswick resort town for a planning session before they return to parliament for the fall session.
Posted at 4:33 p.m.
This return will be in a different House of Commons, and not just because it now has King Charles III as head of the Canadian state.
The Liberals will also see a new face across the aisle as leader of “Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition”.
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre decisively won his party’s leadership race on Saturday night and is expected to pose the biggest challenge to the Liberals and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since the 2015 election brought them to power.
Without saying so publicly, many Liberals are aware of this challenge, and responding to Mr. Poilievre’s more pompous style will be a key part of what’s discussed at St. Andrews this week.
Although some observers predicted that a victory for Mr. Poilievre would divide the Tories, some Liberals privately acknowledged that they were preparing to clash with a united Tory party behind its leader.
Publicly, however, some Liberals are rejoicing over Mr. Poilievre’s victory. They characterize him as more polarizing, more right-wing and easier to paint in an extremist partisan corner than former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who finished a distant second in the leadership race.
Kingston and the Islands MP Mark Gerretsen, one of the most prominent Liberal MPs on Twitter, posted a smiley face emoji after Mr Poilievre’s victory was announced.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who is one of the Liberal MPs designated to attend Saturday’s event in person, launched the first attack minutes after the winner was declared.
In a written statement released with Montreal MP Rachel Bendayan, Mr LeBlanc called Mr Poilievre ‘reckless’ and tried to stoke Tory division by saying even some Tories call the new leader’s ideas ‘very questionable’. and “irresponsible”.
“Whether it’s promoting volatile cryptocurrencies to ‘avoid inflation’, wanting to weaken gun control, promising to make pollution free again, opposing support measures to the middle class or to allow members of his caucus to introduce anti-abortion laws, the new Conservative leader is proposing dangerous ideas that would jeopardize our economy, our health and our security”, argued the two MPs.
About a year has passed since the Liberals called an election believing they could secure a majority mandate. However, the party ended up with almost exactly the same minority result as in 2019.
Currently, the government must manage several thorny issues that can give the opposition ammunition, such as the management of COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Mr. Poilievre won’t be afraid to accuse the Liberals of mishandling these issues — he’ll likely reuse his victory speech that Canadians don’t want a government that runs their lives, but rather a government that can run the passport offices.
PHOTO PATRICK DOYLE, REUTERS
The new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada Pierre Poilievre
The new Tory leader will focus intensely on the cost of living crisis, which the Liberals have yet to tackle head-on.
Trudeau is expected to deliver a speech to the caucus similar to the one he gave to his cabinet during his retirement last week, attempting to motivate them despite massive challenges at home and abroad.
But he will also use his remarks to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, whom he had known since childhood.
The Liberals briefly considered calling off the retreat, but they are finally going ahead. The tone, however, promises to be more serious and thought-provoking.