Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks to a meeting room after speaking to reporters at the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., on Wednesday, September 11, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

NANAIMO, B.C. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that he "can't wait" to get back to Ottawa to get into it with Pierre Poilievre in the House of Commons as he tried to make a case to his own MPs to put up a united front against the Conservatives.

Trudeau is in Nanaimo, B.C., for a three-day Liberal caucus retreat, which is the first chance he has had to address his MPs as a group since they lost a long-held Liberal riding in Toronto to the Conservatives in June. The loss led to a fractious summer punctuated by calls inside and outside of caucus for a new leader.

The focus of the gathering has been to reunite the party and turn their focus to the Tories, who Trudeau insists will cut programs and investments Canadians hold dear.

"I can't wait to continue getting into it this fall with Poilievre, whose perspective is cuts are the only way forward," Trudeau told reporters outside the closed-door meeting Wednesday.

Before the meeting began, Quebec Liberal MP Alexandra Mendès told Radio-Canada that while she supports Trudeau as leader, she has heard from constituents who are adamant the prime minister needs to go.

Despite grumblings before the retreat, Liberals who spoke publicly on the sidelines of the meetings have, so far, expressed positivity about their party's approach to the coming election year.

"I think we're confident. We have the talent, we have the team, we have the plan to continue to govern and fight for Canadians," said Manitoba Liberal MP Dan Vandal.

"There was one person who spoke negatively," out of 154, he said.

Trudeau said there is a diversity of opinions within the caucus about the approach, and even about his leadership, but he maintained that he's focused on the things his government is doing for Canadians.

"The reality is, all of us are focused on what to do to make sure that Canadians are being supported, are feeling confident about the future," Trudeau said.

Veteran Vancouver MP Hedy Fry said her party can have it out with each other but remain united.

"We're Liberals. We fight and kick each other in the teeth ... then we hug and kiss it better," she said with a laugh.

The latest survey from polling firm Leger suggests the Conservatives' vast lead over the Liberals is holding steady, with about 45 per cent of decided voters saying they would cast a ballot for the Tories, compared to 25 per cent for the Liberals.

Poilievre also signalled his readiness to face Trudeau in the House again next week as the two spar over the economy.

"Everything costs more because of money-printing deficits that destroy our … dollar and high taxes that punish work and destroy paycheques," the Conservative leader said in Ottawa Wednesday.

He also took shots at former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who Trudeau appointed to advise the Liberals on economic policy.

Poilievre called Carney a "phantom finance minister," who supports a carbon tax and isn't joining the party in any official capacity that would require him to disclose his financial interests.

Poilievre intends to introduce another non-confidence motion in the government the first chance he gets. The last one he tabled in March failed when the Liberals got the support of both the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, but with the NDP now abandoning its agreement with the Liberals the Conservatives are pushing the NDP to back them.

The Conservatives likely need both the Bloc and the NDP to vote with them to have the motion succeed.

Other than announcing Carney's appointment, Trudeau didn't offer any new policies or a drastic new vision to buoy his party, but still the applause that erupted from caucus after his speech could be heard down the hall.

Ontario Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski, a doctor turned politician, said the Liberals' condition is hardly "terminal."

He said the best treatment for what ails his party is the "tincture of time."

"You don't expect a bone to heal overnight. It takes time. I think similarly in politics," he said outside the meeting.

"And yes, I know, and we know that the Canadian populace is angry for a whole bunch of reasons, but time changes a lot of things."

He said Trudeau isn't the same person who won the prime minister's office in 2015 on charm, charisma and great hair.

"The first election 2015 it was all about 'he's sexy, blah, blah, blah.' If he's gonna win this election, it's on substance and who he is and his policies," Powlowski said.

In any case, the Liberals seemed to take the direction to target Poilievre to heart at the caucus meeting in Nanaimo.

"I hope you're seeing a change in tone right now. I'm going to start being a little more critical of Mr. Poilievre," said Nova Scotia Liberal MP Kody Blois.

The Liberals will face their next test in just a few days with a critical byelection in Montreal. Voters will elect a new MP in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun on Monday, which was held by former justice minister David Lametti until he stepped down last winter.

Another byelection is being held the same day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood — Transcona, but that contest is largely a battle between the NDP and the Conservatives.

Trudeau said people in those byelections, and in the next national election, will have to choose between Poilievre's plan to cut services and the Liberal plan to invest in Canada. However, neither byelection is really seen as a contest between the Liberals and the Conservatives.

In Montreal, the Liberals are facing a challenge from the Bloc Québécois and the NDP, while in Winnipeg the riding is an NDP stronghold that the Conservatives are trying to win back after holding it for one election cycle in 2011.

Still, if the NDP were to prevail in both byelections it could give weight to Leader Jagmeet Singh's argument that his party is better positioned to challenge the Tories for government in the next election.

Several Liberal MPs downplayed the significance of the byelections Wednesday, but if the party loses in Montreal to either the Bloc or the NDP, it will further erode any remaining belief that Trudeau has any chance of turning the ship around for his party.

Trudeau, one of the last to leave the three-day meeting, was asked about whether he believed he could win the Montreal race.

"I believe we're going to win everything," Trudeau said with a smile and a laugh.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2024