In a bid to save Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s dwindling political career, the government of the besieged prime minister has put in place a well-calculated plan to reduce the lead of the Conservative Party by over ten points ahead of reporting. Anonymous sources familiar with this daring scheme say that Liberals have set an ambitious target of bringing forward five every six months with respect to narrowing down the gap.
However, according to insider accounts, Mr. Trudeau’s team is using incrementalism as its weapon as it seeks, slowly and surely, to re-ascend from the depths of public disfavor that it has sunk into. By July, The Prime Minister’s Office hopes for a first tangible shift in polling numbers based on this week’s federal budget which they say was aimed at appealing specifically to those under 40 years old.
Nonetheless, because younger voters are not believed will be attracted by this year’s budget plans for him. Moreover, these sources also admitted that if things go wrong for Trudeau then such a statement would describe their thinning chances.
The success of Liberals’ strategy depends on the fact that Canadians should be told about budget programs and see them implemented as well. Additionally they need to make effective comparisons with Conservative party members who can explain that there is no way such projects would exist if Pierre Poilievre were in charge.
Younger voters who formed Trudeau’s electoral backbone have defected to conservatives due high cost housing and astronomical rents that had left them without hope of ever owning homes The liberals’ plan is designed to show commitment towards this demographic group and movement towards addressing their interests While pollsters acknowledge that the new spending plan responds to the desires of young Canadians, they caution that there are some headwinds working against liberals – late stage cycle fatigue and broad-based demand for change – which may prove insurmountable.
Abacus Data’s CEO David Coletto in a statement described the housing and affordability debacle that has turned younger voters against liberals as “an upside-down Canadian politics.” He also added, “Essentially those under 40 used to be the core of the Liberal coalition, they are now a central part of the Conservative coalition.
According to Frank Graves, President of EKOS Research, these younger voters who are more numerous than any other demographic group are crucial for winning elections. “Without them, the Liberals face a sure loss.”
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However, there is some hope for the Liberals, believes Graves; perhaps this explains why they took such audacious steps like announcing $53-billion in new spending and $21.9 billion in new tax hikes. In the process he notes growing acceptance of activist government indicating positive sentiments towards budgeting. Nonetheless he wonders whether this will be enough for a regime suffering from high levels of leaders’ fatigue and antipathy.
Compared to President Biden’s proposals for wealth taxes as well as corporate tax hikes, Graves suggests that while it may not seem so bold as required by some audiences but it should be enough to affect polling numbers dramatically. But given that if Liberal efforts fall flat there will be “pressure on changing leaders,” added Graves.
By May 2023, when Trudeau triumphantly announced that he was seeking another term against Poilievre’s “brokenist” politics at the Liberal convention, his party had a five-point gap in the polls. They went on to win two by-elections and entered summer full of hope for a reset. However, by the time Parliament reconvened in September, they were looking into a double-digit gulf from which they have yet to climb out.
According to the most recent poll conducted by Nanos Research on April 12th, the Conservative Party had 40 percent approval while Liberals were trailing with 24 percent and NDP had 21 percent. The rolling telephone survey had sought after opinions of one thousand Canadian citizens over a four week period; hence it can be trusted to within plus or minus three point one percentage units approximately nineteen times out of twenty.
This protracted slump has made Nik Nanos doubt any self-directed recovery for Trudeau. He posits that no budget that addresses Canadians’ needs will reverse this downward cycle of politics which Trudeau is now in the midst of having served eight years as an incumbent.
“In Harper’s last year they put money on families thinking it might help them get re-elected – people take anything free from government but it does not translate into votes,” Mr. Nanos cautioned.
The reality today is that Poilievre has control over Trudeau’s political fate. As long as Poilievre performs better than anyone else, Conservatives will still have an advantage. If Poilievre makes a mistake, it will revive Trudeau’s political fortunes.
Keyly for a beleaguered leader, five other Liberal sources close to Government have said that the Caucus has generally received well this budget because they appreciate how much was done about their everyday concerns and also its execution was flawless.
Most Liberals accept both this fact and their own inability to contravene them after three campaigns under the same leader. However, they say that despite this view, the low poll numbers and the dim outlooks for Liberal Members of Parliament in swing ridings at least five sources claim that the party has already built up enough goodwill to keep Trudeau in place.
Scott Reid, former Director of Communications to Prime Minister Paul Martin and a central figure in his battle with Jean Chrétien for leadership, agrees with these views saying that Trudeau is not under threat from his own party. Even after this week’s report that Trudeau’s long-time buddy and senior cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc was organizing an internal campaign should the Prime Minister step down, Mr. Reid still maintains this opinion.
“It’s miraculous how few of these stories there have been given how low the party is,” said Mr. Reid adding that it says a lot about today’s Liberal Party which is a cult of personality built around one man without any dissenting factions within it. This dynamic, he argues, is why the government has latitude to execute its strategy of incremental changes. “Trudeau just kind of runs everything tacitly; everyone else defers.”
Last Updated on by Alshaar Ansari