Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suddenly finds himself without one of his longest-serving advisers, just as the threat of a snap election looms over Ottawa.
Jeremy Broadhurst resigned Thursday as national campaign director for the Liberal Party of Canada, a day after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh ended the deal that supported the Liberals on key votes.
In a statement about his decision to resign, which was first reported by the Toronto StarMr Broadhurst spoke of the toll two decades and five national campaigns have taken on him and his family.
He says the upcoming federal election could be the most critical federal campaign of his lifetime and that the party deserves a campaign manager who can bring more energy and dedication to the work.
Mr Broadhurst was a Liberal staffer in one form or another for nearly 25 years, serving at various times as chief of staff or adviser to several leaders and ministers.
Mr. Broadhurst was national director of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2013 to 2015 and helped retool the Liberals’ data machine. The operation helped them win the 2015 election.
He worked in the prime minister’s office after the 2015 victory and was promoted to campaign manager in 2019.
The next election is due by the fall of 2025, but with the Liberal-NDP deal no longer in effect, there is a greater chance that Parliament will be dissolved before then.
For almost a year, the Liberals have been lagging far behind the Conservatives in the polls and would lose the election if it were held now.
In his statement, Mr. Broadhurst also attacks the Conservatives, saying that Canadians will have to decide whether they want to elect a party that “is banking on the assumption that Canadians are prepared to abandon their commitment to fairness, equality, justice and progress in favour of a program that is little more than slogans and dirty tricks.”
He added that Canadians will have to decide what kind of policy they want “before it is too late to stop at our border a type of policy that stokes fears and seeks to divide us.”
Mr. Broadhurst maintained that he was “still committed to the Liberal Party of Canada and to the Prime Minister,” but that it was “time to make way for others.”