Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing pushback from his own party as several Liberal lawmakers are now urging the leader to not run for a fourth term, issuing him a deadline of October 28 to make his decision. Some Liberal MPs said that Trudeau “must leave by October 28” or face unspecified consequences, reported news agency AP.
After holding a meeting with several members of his political party, Justin Trudeau smiled and said that the Liberals are “strong and united”, while the deadline issued by around 20 MPs of the party tells a different story.
Three Liberals said they were among a total of 20 plus lawmakers from the party to have signed a letter asking Trudeau to step down before the next election, reported AP.
“He has to start listening, listening to the people,” said Ken McDonald, a Liberal Member of Parliament from Newfoundland who said he signed the letter, which has not been made public.
McDonald, who has decided not to run for MP against, said that many of his colleagues who are planning to contest in the upcoming elections are nervous because of poor polling numbers and the Liberals' dropping popularity.
The letter was reportedly read out to Trudeau during the caucus meeting of the Liberals, which lasted three hours, presenting arguments for the prime minister to resign from his post and not run for a fourth term. The letter stated that Trudeau needs to make this demand by October 28.
Justin Trudeau, who previously has said he plans to run again, didn't take questions from reporters after the meeting. No Canadian prime minister has won four straight terms in over 100 years.
Trudeau's Liberals recently suffered upsets in special elections in two districts in Toronto and Montreal that the party has held for years, raising doubts about Trudeau’s leadership.
However, Trudeau hasn't signed the letter presented to him by the Liberal MPs yet. The prime minister, however, said that he is planning to consider the demands put forward.
The Liberals trail the opposition Conservatives 38% to 25% in the latest Nanos poll. The poll of 1,037 respondents has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
The development comes even the ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani terrortist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd".
In his comments at the media briefing last week, Trudeau, referring to findings by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), claimed that it has "clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in, and continue to engage in, activities that pose a significant threat to public safety."
“This includes clandestine information gathering techniques, coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder. This is unacceptable,” he alleged.
The Canadian prime minister said his government's attempts to work with India did not yield any result.
India has rejected the Canadian accusations as absurd, and expelled Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.
(With inputs from AP)
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