Toronto (Canada), .- The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, met today with his main collaborators to try to tackle the growing crisis that surrounds his Government after the resignation of two ministers who have denounced attempts of political interference to favor a company.
Trudeau canceled the visit he had scheduled for today to the town of Regina, in the center of the country, to hold “private meetings” in Ottawa with his closest collaborators.
The change in Trudeau’s agenda comes after Monday’s Treasury Minister Jane Philpott shaking the foundations of Ottawa when she unexpectedly announced her resignation for having lost “confidence in how the government” has treated the alleged pressures about the former Minister of Justice, Jody Wilson-Raybould.
The resignation of Philpott, which he explained in his resignation letter is the result of his inability to “defend all cabinet actions”, occurs one month after the departure of Wilson-Raybould and less than a week after the former minister of Justice accused Trudeau of attempted interference.
Today, the main political commentators of the country highlighted the exceptionality of the resignations in the political history of the country.
In the past, other prominent ministers have resigned from the Canadian government after clashes with prime ministers. But nobody remembers an occasion in which two important members of the Government have decided to resign and for such fundamental questions as those pointed out by Wilson-Raybould and Philpott.
The challenge of the two ministers, who until his resignation were considered two of the most important people in Trudeau’s cabinet, continues and forces the leader of the ruling Liberal Party to carefully consider his next decisions.
One of the first is the convenience of expelling Wilson-Raybould and Philpott from the Liberal Party, since the two ex-administrations not only have not abandoned the political formation but have expressed their willingness to continue working for the party.
As Susan Delacourt, one of the main political commentators of the country, pointed out today, “these two ex-administrations are still confessed liberals, they remain in the parliamentary group, essentially challenging Trudeau to expel them, despite his public statements of lack of confidence in the first Minister”.
So far, Trudeau has chosen to maintain an image of normalcy as happened on Monday night at the rally held in the vicinity of Toronto to defend his government’s plan to combat climate change.
Trudeau exhibited his most charming smile before dozens of liberal followers and after thanking Philpott’s work in the Government, where he held the ministries of Health, Indigenous Services, Treasury and Digital Government, he continued as such essentially saying that there are major concerns.
A similar position was adopted today by the Foreign Minister of Canada, Chrystia Freeland, which many consider as the unofficial deputy prime minister of the Canadian Government.
During a press conference in Montreal, Freeland praised Philpott and then absolutely supported both the work of the Government and the figure of Trudeau.
“I want to emphasize that Philpott is my friend,” Freeland told reporters.
Freeland added that the prime minister has his “total confidence” and believes “very important that the Government works as a team.”
“And we will continue doing it,” he added.
Despite the appearance of normality that Trudeau and his ministers try to spread, the resignations of Wilson-Raybould and Philpott and the scandal that caused their resignations, the attempt to favor the country’s largest construction company, SNC-Lavalin, are damaging the image of the prime minister.
A survey published in the last hours and conducted between March 1 and 4 indicates that the Liberal Party of Trudeau would only receive at this time the support of 31% of Canadians, three percentage points two weeks ago, and below 40 Support% of the opposition Conservative Party.
If this is not worrisome enough for liberals seven months before the general election, another poll published in recent days indicates that the prime minister is losing support among his constituency.
According to a survey by the Angus Reid Institute, the margin between Trudeau and the conservative leader, Andrew Scheer, among women voters, one of the keys to the victory of the liberal leader in 2015, has been reduced to only six percentage points. (EFEUSA)
