It looks more and more like we are in the last game of Justin Trudeau's Liberals. They have been trailing in the polls for two years and going further despite some last ditch efforts to right the ship.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland left the cabinet on Monday and fellow cabinet member Sean Fraser left politics. Today, another cabinet reshuffle is coming and 10 replacements are being discussed.
There is also this rumor from a Canadian political strategist:
I've seen some better connected people shut that down but the rumors are everywhere. Onward BNN On Thursday, former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley said:
John Manley says he “wouldn't be surprised” if Liberal Party of Canada officials meet soon and ask newly appointed Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc to take over as acting leader from the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the party to lead the election.
“You heard it here first – just a little that I have,” said Manley, chairman of Jeffries Canada and a former finance minister and deputy prime minister under Jean Chrétien, in an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Thursday.
Finally, the Globe and Mail reports this:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is holding talks with cabinet ministers and senior party leaders about stepping down early in the new year, but confidence has walked away from those talks with decisions to completely different in terms of where he stands.
The Globe also reports that he was prepared to resign on Monday but there was talk of him leaving.
I think the best case scenario for the loonie is that Trudeau calls an election and takes his medicine and soon we get a new government. If he steps aside and moves parliament forward while the Liberals hold a leadership race, he could stretch the timeline to the summer.
Even in the second scenario, I don't see how a different leader would change the outcome given how neutral the Liberals are but it's hard to predict politics.
The cabinet shuffle comes at 11:30 a.m. ET.
