By refusing to step aside, PM risks a knockout

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/07/2024 (440 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is, like U.S. President Joe Biden, facing questions about whether he should continue to lead his party. Obviously Trudeau — who at 52 is still young by prime ministerial standards — has not left his base fearful of their leader’s senility.

However, even if Trudeau isn’t physically moribund, his rule as Liberal leader may well be.

Compared to his staid and greyed Liberal predecessors (as well as then-Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper) Trudeau was seen as young, charismatic and hip when he became his party’s leader in 2013. He was even viewed as athletic, as demonstrated in 2012 when the then-MP donned boxing gloves and battered Sen. Patrick Brazeau in a televised charity bout.

Trudeau’s “sunny ways” variant of his father Pierre’s “Trudeaumania” had momentum.

Fast-forward to 2024, and among the highlights of Trudeau’s time in office are his commitment to gender parity in cabinet, his legalization of cannabis, and limited but positive movement on a reconciliation agenda with Canada’s Indigenous communities.

He has made deals on early childhood learning and child care, and achieved slow but positive movement on folding pharmaceutical and dental coverage into the Canadian health-care system — an advance made possible by his uneasy alliance with the NDP.

However, Trudeau has also been dogged by a seeming inability to keep his nose clean.

There was the unnecessary luxury vacation with the Aga Khan; his interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair; his connection to the scandal-plagued WE charity organization; and the scene of him applauding in the House of Commons for Yaroslav Hunka, who was hailed as a Second World War veteran but was later revealed to have served as part of the SS Division Galicia.

And of course there were the early revelations that Trudeau had appeared in black- or brownface on multiple occasions; it was surprising that wasn’t the end of Trudeau then and there.

As boxers are commonly told, Trudeau’s No. 1 adversary, his greatest opponent, has been the man in the mirror.

Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was never able to deliver a knockout blow. Now, Pierre Poilievre has entered the ring and is eager to be the one to retire the prime minister. But it isn’t just Poilievre who’s itching for a fight; after an embarrassing defeat in the reliably Liberal riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s, the pressure on Trudeau is coming from his own bench, too, with the loss raising questions of whether he is fit to continue as leader.

All this is compounded by the difficult economic times faced by ordinary Canadians, who are naturally inclined to point a finger at the federal top dog.

As with Biden, Trudeau should be asking whether his continued service is good for the country, or even for his own party. So far, he has been able to shrug off the blows of lesser opponents. He may put Poilievre away when the next election comes, too — declining fortunes aside, he still has a puncher’s chance, and Poilievre certainly has his weaknesses.

But the longer Trudeau hangs on, the less good he does, and the more open he is to criticism; whereas a new leader might offer a fresh course forward removed from the influence of an increasingly unpopular leader. Like Biden, Trudeau’s insistence on personal triumph over his party’s success could end in destruction.

Credit Trudeau with having had a pugilist’s sense of whether or not he’s finished. He’s been on the ropes before and managed to come out ahead. But that was then, and this is now. There are fewer people in his corner each day.

Sometimes, you have to know when to throw in the towel.