The Liberal Party of Canada is in dire straits. The loss of Toronto-St. Paul’s in a byelection is more than a setback for the party. It is a catastrophe. Toronto-St. Paul’s isn’t a bellwether seat that could swing either way with the political winds. It was one of the safest Liberal seats in Canada and had been in their possession for more than 30 years. If Liberal MPs weren’t already in a panic before, they certainly are now. If Toronto-St. Paul’s can fall to the Conservative Party of Canada, any seat can.Justin Trudeau is stubbornly clinging to the party leadership despite party support collapsing across Canada over the past year and continuing to decline. He has vacuously pretended that sunny ways are continuing, while his party’s electoral viability crumbles around him. Scandal after scandal has pummelled the Liberals but Trudeau has shrugged them off. He had convinced himself he can overcome the dearth in electoral support and turn things around.While demands from citizens for Trudeau’s resignation have been increasing in volume, the culture of submissiveness within the Liberal caucus has kept any internal critique muted. With every Liberal MP now fearing for their political lives, cracks in the united front of party support for Trudeau are about to break wide open. Party loyalty is going to be tossed to the curb as Liberal MPs try to salvage their jobs.Will it be enough though? Will Trudeau finally succumb to pressure and resign? It’s hard to say. The pressures of Trudeau’s position have clearly been getting to him. He has been becoming increasingly bizarre and has been acting out at events. He doesn’t appear mentally stable and he could be delusional enough that he has convinced himself he still can pull his party out of the ditch. There are certainly signs he has a messiah complex and such a disorder can shield a person from reality.The knives are sure to come out and if Trudeau keeps fighting against pressures to resign, the Liberals could tear themselves to shreds. While that scenario holds some appeal, it comes at a cost.While some are saying Trudeau should remain at the helm of the Liberals because it will put the party into the electoral doldrums for years, the cost of his tenure is just too high. From a partisan perspective Trudeau is Pierre Poilievre’s best friend. From a citizen’s perspective, Trudeau’s continued role as prime minister is a disaster. With one or two more years in power, Trudeau could grind the Canadian economy into the ground. Affordability, productivity and GDP per capita are already in the toilet, but it can still get worse. Under Trudeau’s continued guidance, it surely will. Canada’s international reputation will continue to slide under Trudeau’s incompetent leadership. He needs to be removed as soon as possible for the sake of the nation.The Liberals are already crushed enough they likely won’t be able to recover for a couple of electoral cycles anyway. The party will need to rebuild and it will take time. While there will be no shortage of applicants for Trudeau’s job if and when he resigns, the most qualified for the role will likely stay on the sidelines for a while. The next Liberal leader will be a placeholder who will never see beyond being an opposition leader. The Liberals burned through three leaders after Chretien’s departure before they managed to win another election. Not many serious contenders want to finish their careers as the Kim Campbell of the Liberal party.The loss of Toronto-St. Paul’s is cause for celebration among common sense Canadians exhausted by the terrible governance of the country under Trudeau. The chances of the Liberals surviving the next general election are slim to none. If Trudeau steps down, some Liberal seats could be salvaged even if the election is lost. The clock is ticking though. Even if Trudeau resigns today, it will likely take until the new year for a new leader to be selected and that leaves the Liberals with less than a year to turn things around before the scheduled general election date.Until Trudeau steps out of the role of prime minister though, nobody should be breaking out the champagne flutes. He is an unstable and desperate man who is still capable of wreaking havoc on the nation.Trudeau must go and the sooner the better.
