'Different life to the party': Manitoba weighs in on Trudeau’s resignation

Manitobans are reacting to Justin Trudeau’s resignation as Liberal leader and his decision to prorogue to Parliament until March to allow for a leadership race.

Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Winnipeg North, said it’s hard to see Trudeau go, but he can appreciate that people in his party were looking for a change.

“I genuinely believe that Trudeau does have a very strong following that's out there, and the more people got to know who Pierre Poilievre is, the more comfortable they would be with Justin Trudeau,” he said.

“Justin does have a fantastic ability to communicate with people; we've seen that during elections. Where he took us out of third place into the majority government. But I value the opinion of Canadians, and it would seem during the last number of months that he would have had a pretty tough hill to climb.”

Lamoureux, who will be seeking re-election in his riding, said he will paying close attention to the upcoming federal leadership convention.

“At the at the end of the day, there's lots of time here for us to be able to have a good quality convention,” he said. “Hopefully, we'll get a number of people entering into that race, and at the end of the day, it will bring a different type of life to the party.”

Political scientist says Liberals will be struggling during election

A Manitoba political scientist said he was not surprised about Trudeau’s announcement and said it will take a lot of work for the Liberals to dig themselves out of their current hole.

“I would say it's long overdue, and I think it's done irreparable damage to the party at this stage that there are different members, the Liberal caucus openly calling for him to step down,” said Chris Adams, a political scientist and adjunct professor from the University of Manitoba.

“That's never a good thing when a political party has its caucus and members of the cabinet speaking openly about their concern about their leaders.”

Adams said there are parallels between Trudeau’s exit and Brian Mulroney’s resignation in 1993, and said the Liberal Party could follow the same path.

During the 1993 election, an unpopular Mulroney resigned months before the scheduled fall election. Kim Campbell replaced Mulroney as leader and prime minister, with the Progressive Conservatives winning only two seats in the election.

“Some of the projections have it like six seats, eight seats, those types of projections, and it is a real possibility,” Adams said.

For the party to potentially rebound, Adams said the next leader will have to develop a regional base in Canada for votes.

He added despite the current polling deficit, the Liberals still have a chance, citing the 2015 election.

“During an election campaign, things can happen that are unpredictable, and the liberals had come from third place and won that election with a very sizable majority back in 2015,” Adams said. “So right now, things look very bleak for the federal Liberal Party, but I would say that it's not zero per cent hope for them.”