Trudeau faces 'iceberg revolt'as calls grow for PM to quit

Justin Trudeau, who promised “sunny ways” as he won an election on a wave of public fatigue with an incumbent Conservative government, is now facing his darkest and most uncertain political moment as he attempts to defy the odds to win a rare fourth term.

- Leyland Cecco

The prime minister appears to have ignored both the demands of a handful of his own MPs calling for him to resign and threats from a separatist party looking to unravel his party’s tenuous hold on power.

Nearly two dozen backbench Liberal MPs signed a letter last month calling for Trudeau to step down amid fears that his unpopularity could lead to a crushing electoral defeat in the coming months. The letter was separate from a “code red” petition to grassroots party supporters calling for a secret ballot vote on Trudeau’s leadership.

Trudeau, in his ninth year as prime minister, appeared unmoved, telling reporters he had the support of the vast majority of the 153 Liberal party members of the House of Commons .

Analysts say the revolt will have left a mark on the prime minister.

“The prime minister and his operation are likely shaken and must know that for every member calling on Trudeau to leave, there are two or three others who lack the courage to say it,” said Scott Reid, a political adviser and former director of communications to the Liberal former prime minister Paul Martin.

“This is an iceberg revolt. What lurks beneath the waves could be vast, and that has got to be intimidating the prime minister, whether he admits it in public – or even in private.”