MP alone after call for Trudeau to resign

Byelection loss spurs MP's decision to speak

- ALTHIA RAJ

New Brunswick Liberal MP Wayne Long speaks highly of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's progressive policies and has commended his leadership during COVID-19, but also says a lot of the party's good work gets lost in the public's dislike of Trudeau, Althia Raj writes.

It was a political call to arms that no Liberal MP appears to have taken up.

In an email to his colleagues last week, New Brunswick MP Wayne Long gave voice to feelings Grit MPs were confidentially sharing, in chat groups and with reporters, that the prime minister should step down. He expected further calls for Justin Trudeau's resignation would follow.

But so far... crickets.

"I won't lie, it's a bit of a lonely feeling. But... I feel that it needed to be said." In a long conversation with the Star, Long said he has no regrets about speaking up, or for possibly being judged a "bad guy," or shunned for his comments. But he also expressed surprise no other Liberal MP had piped up.

"I'm just kind of puzzled - like, I just don't understand the silence," he said over the phone.

"It has been quieter than I thought it would be."

He expected to spur “a more robust, open conversation, but clearly, that’s not what’s occurred to date.”

In a five-line email to his parliamentary colleagues Friday, Long said the byelection results in Toronto—St. Paul’s, where the Liberals lost a seat they had held since 1993, led him to conclude the party needed new leadership and a new direction.

“I think the way to reconnect with Canadians is a new leader, a new fresh face,” he told the Star.