Following by-election losses in constituencies that have long been Liberal strongholds, and news that yet another minister has resigned from cabinet and chosen to run as an independent MP, a panel of political strategists are discussing the political fate of the Liberal Party on CTV’s “Question Period” weekly.
The past week began with the Liberal Party’s loss to the Bloc Quebecois in a by-election in LaSalle-Emard-Verdun, a Montreal-area riding held by former Liberal justice minister David Lametti for nearly a decade and former Liberal premier Paul Martin from 1988 to 2008.
And late last week, former Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced he was stepping down from cabinet to run for leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party.
While the announcement was not unexpected, Rodriguez’s decision to run as an independent came as a surprise to many political observers.
CTV News political analyst Scott Reid, who served as communications director for former premier Paul Martin, called the by-election loss a “huge deal.”
“It’s like the air is going out of the tires of the government’s bike, and you can see it in people’s facial expressions and body language,” he said. “Even if you’re expecting bad news, that doesn’t necessarily help when the bad news actually arrives.”
“It’s like they don’t have the pump at their fingertips,” Reid said of the government’s deflated situation, adding that there was no clear path forward and the Liberals were at a disadvantage.
Kathleen Monk, a former NDP strategist and spokesperson for the late Jack Layton, agreed, saying the Liberals have yet to lay out a narrative or policies to “change course.”
“I think in some ways they’re shocked that this bad news continues, but I don’t know why,” Monk said when asked about revelations that the by-election defeat was not discussed at last week’s Liberal caucus meeting.
Corey Teneike, campaign manager for Ontario Premier Doug Ford and communications director for former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said given the Liberal party’s weak polling performance last year, “it’s very hard to look at yourself and say you have a path to victory when you’re down 21 or 22 points.”
“I think it’s pretty clear to everyone that unless something very fundamental changes, things aren’t going to work out for these people, except maybe one or two people, one of whom is obviously the prime minister himself,” Teneyke said. “It’s just unbelievable that they would hold a caucus and not talk about losing one of the safest seats in the country.”
You can watch the full Sunday strategy session on CTV’s Question Period in the video player at the top of this article.