Despite recent calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to give up his place at the head of the party, it must be admitted that the leader remains the man for the job for his activists.
“Justin!” Justin! Justin! » chanted the approximately 400 people present for his speech at the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC) convention early Saturday evening in Trois-Rivières. When he arrived on stage, a crowd could be seen cheering, brandishing party posters, amid loud shouts and whistles.
“I’m really happy to be with you all. We can celebrate that 8 years ago today, on November 4, 2015, with hope and hard work, the Liberal Party of Canada became the Government of Canada,” declared the Prime Minister at the opening of his speech. .
Having just returned from Washington, the MP for Papineau quickly changed his tone, inviting his activists to “talk to each other in the eyes”.
” It is tough these days. We are emerging from a pandemic. There are wars in the world. There is inflation too – it’s all connected. This summer, we had historic forest fires. Everywhere, we need more affordable housing. There is no shortage of challenges,” admitted the Prime Minister.
For Mr. Trudeau, it is important to defend liberal values, such as the green economy, welcoming refugees, a cabinet of equal ministers and even the ban on assault weapons. “It’s not true that the gun lobby is more important than the safety of our communities,” he said.
“The guy who eats apples”
Throughout his speech, delivered in French and English, the Prime Minister attacked his Conservative opponent Pierre Poilievre on numerous occasions.
“When there are populist politicians like Pierre Poilievre who say that everything is broken, that everything must be scrapper and starting from scratch may seem tempting. But this is not what will bring more stability to our societies, on the contrary,” he insisted in front of his crowd of supporters.
The PLC is currently losing points in polls across the country, except in Quebec. Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives rank in third position — behind the Bloc Québécois — but have been rising quietly for several weeks.
The Liberal leader took advantage of his speech to return to the Conservative Party’s positions on abortion. “Pierre Poilievre talks a lot about freedom, but the freedom of women to choose what to do with their bodies, that doesn’t interest him.”
The Prime Minister notably accused the Conservative leader of “further recruiting anti-abortion MPs”.
The Minister of Transport and lieutenant of Quebec, Pablo Rodriguez, also strongly criticized the Conservatives some time before the Prime Minister’s speech. “What is Pierre Poilievre’s party doing? The guy who eats apples? It takes us backwards on women’s rights, on the fight against climate change! They don’t even know how to write it,” he booed in front of the activists.
It was not only the Conservatives who were targeted by the Prime Minister’s attacks, who did not hesitate to throw several arrows at the Bloc Québécois (BQ) during his speech. “We don’t need the Bloc to put forward the strengths of Quebecers,” he said before naming and applauding, one by one, the Quebec federal ministers.
“And while we have [des conversations importantes] in the House of Commons, what is the Bloc talking about? From the Year 1 budget,” he was ridiculed. Only a few people in the room laughed.
Convinced activists
If discussions about the future of Mr. Trudeau have circulated in recent weeks, the activists present at the congress give their irrefutable support to the Prime Minister.
“I really believe that we have had very difficult times, with COVID for example. No matter who had been in power, it would have been very difficult,” says Joan David Gonzaly, an activist met by The duty at Congress.
The young Colombian, war refugee, affirms that the PLC is the party with democratic values which joins him.
“With an opponent like Pierre Poilievre who we still see a little, the populist approach that is approaching, it’s something that is really scary,” he confides.
“When he has been in power for eight years, the electoral pendulum begins to change. But I believe that the Prime Minister did a very good jobeven if the good job doesn’t win him any points in the polls,” adds the young activist.
The same goes for Anne Patricia Akesse, another activist who came to Trois-Rivières to mobilize. “ [La baisse dans les sondages] don’t worry us at all. We know we are doing a good job. The crisis that is affecting Canada today is across the entire world,” she said. “Yes, the chef is still an asset,” she adds.