SooToday received the following letter from reader Robert Nelly on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's plan to resign once a new Liberal leader is chosen.
The reasons for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigning have now been made irrelevant, since he stepped down because of his drop in support.
However, the EKOS polling firm, which gave Trudeau a lousy 19.4% level of support only three days after the Chrystia Freeland resigned, recently gave Trudeau 32%, only 1.9% less than rival Pierre Poilievre.
If the election were called today, it would be a toss-up. It's any man's game.
Other polls are also showing Trudeau is nearly tied with Poilievre.
All of the Liberal leadership candidates are campaigning right-of-centre, and absolutely none will continue Trudeau's legacy, which is another reason that Trudeau should place no faith in any of these candidates.
Freeland stated in her resignation letter that she opposed Trudeau's promise of $250 cheques to working Canadians who earned $150,000 or less in 2023.
Freeland referred to the proposal as a "costly political gimmick" and argued that the Canadian government should "[keep] our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war."
Furthermore, leadership contender and banker Mark Carney from the corporate world will not be any more left than Freeland.
Trudeau has a right to simply dismiss the current race since no one is really promising to carry his mantle and legacy.
If he carries through with his resignation, all of the many social programs that he has advanced (dental care, child care) will risk being cut by the next Liberal government.
There is no Trudeauesque alternative, and he simply has the right to delay the leadership race until such a candidate presents themselves, to re-open the nomination process.
Trudeau has given only one reason for his resigning, and that is because of the infighting.
Sure, if he cancelled the Liberal leadership race, he would face a lot of backlash, but if he dissolves Parliament first and calls an election, all of those treacherous Liberal MPs would be forced to start campaigning in their riding and not spend time humiliating Trudeau.
Even if he decides to simply delay the leadership race vote so that he can be in Parliament when it resumes sitting, he could allow himself to lose the confidence of the House in a vote so that an election can be called.
It's really up to him, if he can stand up to his ungrateful bullies, those Liberal MPs who owe their jobs to Justin Trudeau exclusively and conclusively.
Robert Nelly
North Bay