Immigration minister calls efforts to oust Trudeau 'garbage'

Immigration Minister Marc Miller Dismisses Calls to Oust Trudeau as "Garbage"

Immigration Minister Marc Miller labeled the attempts by discontented Liberal MPs to remove Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "garbage" and stressed the importance of unifying against their main opponent, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

"Any minute spent on this garbage is a minute that's not spent on Pierre Poilievre and what he wants to do to this country, and I think that is very dangerous," Miller remarked to reporters prior to a cabinet meeting.

As a close friend of Trudeau, Miller urged the MPs advocating for a caucus revolt to confront the prime minister directly and express their desire for his resignation.

"I think they have to express themselves to his face," he said. "I think you will see the vast majority of caucus and cabinet — the entirety of cabinet — is behind him."

With national polls indicating a likely defeat for the Liberal Party in the next election, some MPs are preparing to confront Trudeau about their dissatisfaction with his leadership during Wednesday's national caucus meeting.

After nine years in power, Trudeau's approval ratings have significantly declined. The CBC Poll Tracker currently shows the Conservatives leading by 19 points over the governing Liberals, a margin that could lead to numerous Liberal MPs losing their jobs in the next election.

This looming electoral crisis has spurred some Liberal MPs to organize efforts to challenge Trudeau's leadership. Reports indicate that more than 20 MPs have met in secret and signed a document pledging to try to oust him.

The challenges facing the Liberals are not limited to polls. Trudeau and his team have suffered defeats in two byelections in traditionally strong Liberal ridings in Toronto and Montreal. In another recent byelection in the Winnipeg area, the Liberal candidate posted one of the worst performances for a governing party in Canadian history.

Additionally, the party's national campaign director resigned in early September, and it took weeks for a replacement to be announced. Four more cabinet ministers have either announced or are expected to announce that they will not seek re-election, following MP Pablo Rodriguez's decision to leave the caucus and run as an Independent while vying for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party.

However, no signs of dissent were evident as Miller and other cabinet members met with Trudeau for their usual Tuesday gathering.

"I'm a member of his cabinet, and obviously we support him," stated Housing Minister Sean Fraser.

Fraser echoed Miller's sentiment, asserting that Poilievre is the real issue.

"We are up against somebody who is campaigning on promises to deny access to free birth control for women and who won't even get a security clearance to look into allegations about his own caucus members being engaged in foreign interference," he said, referring to Poilievre's controversial choice to forgo obtaining the necessary credentials for reviewing top-secret documents.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson predicted that this latest attempt to remove Trudeau would ultimately fail.

"At the end of the day, we will have a robust debate, and in my view, we will come out with support for the prime minister and move forward with the election," he said.

Regarding dissenting Liberal MPs like Sean Casey from P.E.I., who publicly called for Trudeau's resignation, Wilkinson noted that the Liberals are "a big tent party" that accommodates differing opinions.

"We are not a bunch of robots like Mr. Poilievre's axe-the-tax, build-homes, ride-the-donkeys that you see in question period," he mocked, referring to the Conservative leader's slogan-driven approach.

"It's important to have debates. Clearly, in public opinion polls, we are not leading. There is concern among caucus members."

Health Minister Mark Holland expressed his support for Trudeau, emphasizing that the prime minister can "take punches" better than anyone else.

"These are not easy times to lead. I don't know anybody who's having an easy time leading anywhere, but the prime minister has my full confidence and the full confidence of most of my colleagues," he stated.