Canada PM Trudeau in hot soup as dozens of Liberal MPs launch effort to topple him

In a new political headache for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, some lawmakers from his own party have now started a campaign to unseat him to make way for new leadership. CBC News reported that more than a dozen Liberal Party MPs have signed a document, calling for a ‘change’. The report said that “at least” 20 MPs have signed the letter, without identifying the ruling party lawmakers.

According to reports, discontent against Trudeau’s leadership is on the rise in the Liberal Party after the party faced by-election losses in Montreal and Toronto.

Polls in the LaSalle-Emard-Verdun district of Montreal were conducted by Bloc Quebecois candidate Louis-Philippe Sauve, who received 28 per cent of the votes compared to 27.2 per cent cast for Liberal Party candidate Laura Palestini.

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Criticism mounted as the liberal leader was travelling to an Asian country for a summit even as his party bit the dust back home.

One MP who signed the document told CBC, "This is an insurance policy. We needed to act before the pressure from the PMO intensifies."

Earlier, Canadian media outlet Toronto Star reported that an effort was going on within the party to topple Trudeau, with “at least 30 to 40 MPs” willing to sign a letter calling for him to resign.

Notably, there are 153 Liberal Party lawmakers in Canada’s House of Commons. It means that the number of dissenting MPs is not going to dent Trudeau’s Prime ministership but it has harmed his reputation for sure.

Reacting to the news reports, Canada Trade Minister Mary Ng said the effort by the ruling party MPs was “disappointing.”

She said she had full confidence in PM Trudeau’s leadership.

In September, the NDP party of Jagmeet Singh had withdrawn support from the Liberal Party, leaving the Trudeau government hanging by a thread.

(With inputs from agencies)