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As Liberal leadership wrangling persists, Poilievre says 'not fair' to oust Trudeau now

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre thinks it would be 鈥渘ot fair鈥 for the Liberals to oust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now, as in his view they are 鈥渕orally obligated鈥 to keep him.

Poilievre鈥檚 comments come ahead of another potentially significant Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday, during which members are expected to continue discussions around the party鈥檚 leadership and the next election.

鈥淚 think the Liberals are morally obligated to keep Justin Trudeau,鈥 Poilievre told 580 CFRA鈥檚 The Morning Rush host Bill Carroll in a radio interview on Tuesday.

When asked whether a change in Liberal leadership would affect the Conservative鈥檚 election strategy, Poilievre said it wouldn鈥檛, but 鈥渋t's not fair for them to just put on a new coat of paint to pretend like they're something different."

鈥淟et鈥檚 not kid ourselves. All the Liberal MPs went along with the carbon tax,鈥 Poilievre added. 鈥淭hey're all to blame for his catastrophic record, and they should all have the integrity to stand by him.鈥

Poilievre said the Liberals should not 鈥渟link away鈥 from their record, and that 鈥渢hey should run on it with Justin Trudeau as the leader.鈥

There鈥檚 been mounting dissention within the Liberal caucus for weeks, culminating in a longer-than-typical meeting last Wednesday, during which a number of MPs told Trudeau he needed to reflect on his future at the helm of the party.

Many then expressed disappointment when he told reporters less than 24 hours later that he wasn鈥檛 going anywhere, and intends to lead the party into the next election.

Trudeau鈥檚 short reflection time did not quash caucus concerns. Rather, a growing number of Liberal MPs are now calling for a secret ballot vote to truly put the issue to rest.

Liberal MP Rob Oliphant joined that list on Tuesday, telling reporters he thinks a secret ballot could be 鈥渉elpful鈥 and 鈥渆nsure that caucus鈥 opinion has been heard by the prime minister.鈥

And Liberal MP Sean Casey, who鈥檚 openly been calling for Trudeau to step down, told reporters on Tuesday he doesn鈥檛 believe the leader would survive a secret ballot.

Enacting that mechanism is not currently in the Liberal caucus鈥 arsenal nor the party鈥檚 constitution.

Liberal caucus to talk campaign plan Wednesday

Other Liberal MPs say they are still looking for senior Liberal members to present a clear path towards re-election. In an effort to address some of these outstanding concerns, Wednesday鈥檚 caucus meeting is expected to include a presentation about campaign readiness.

鈥淲e have things to show in terms of the campaigns we're doing, what we're working on,鈥 said Tourism Minister, and Liberal national campaign co-chair, Soraya Martinez Ferrada on her way into Tuesday鈥檚 cabinet meeting. 鈥淧eople want to be reassured that we got this, that we're ready to campaign, and that's what we're going to do tomorrow.鈥

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that what last week鈥檚 caucus meeting 鈥渃onfirmed鈥 for her, was that after a 鈥渃andid and extensive exchange,鈥 the 鈥渧ast majority鈥 of MPs still support Trudeau.

鈥淭hey support him as our leader today, and they support him as the guy who鈥檚 going to lead us into the next election,鈥 Freeland said. 鈥淥ur party and our caucus have had many opportunities to decide our own rules for choosing a leader. Our party decided on that, and our caucus decided on that, and in our rules, the leader is not chosen by secret ballot of caucus members."

鈥淭hat's just not how Liberals govern themselves,鈥 she added, echoing earlier comments from Ferrada that a secret ballot mechanism is not part of the Liberal Party of Canada鈥檚 constitution.

There is no formal mechanism for the Liberal caucus to oust Trudeau. Unlike the Conservatives, the Liberals have not adopted the Reform Act. Under the Act, 20 per cent of caucus members are needed to sign an agreement to trigger a leadership review, and then a majority of caucus is needed to remove the leader.

With files from 麻豆影视鈥 Rachel Aiello

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