Down, but not out?

There was one unusually candid moment as a parade of Liberal ministers went before cameras at a cabinet retreat in a soulless downtown conference centre.

- TONDA MACCHARLES

As the Liberals wrapped up their Halifax cabinet retreat on Monday, Justin Trudeau insisted he would lead the party into the next election.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller, a friend of the prime minister’s, knew he’d be asked about the party’s prospects under Justin Trudeau and whether the Liberals had learned any lessons from a summer of talking to cranky voters or from the fluid presidential race south of the border.

Miller’s blunt answer: Sure. But it’s not for public discussion.

“The reality is, we have to have these conversations behind closed doors. It’s important for the health of the party” and cabinet “cohesion,” he said.

But one of the prime minister’s key former advisers, David MacNaughton, Trudeau’s former ambassador to Washington who briefed cabinet Tuesday, says Trudeau faces a massive challenge to persuade a weary electorate.

MacNaughton told the Star it’s up to the prime minister if he wants to stay or go, but if he stays “you’re going to have to do stuff that is really tough” because all the polls show voters have an intense desire for change.

Facing a “change election” means at the least the Liberals have to make bold policy decisions, said MacNaughton, a former Ontario campaign co-chair for Trudeau.

MacNaughton means big things: like taking on supply management in the agriculture sector, or jumping on AI to push Canadian companies big and small to embrace it and become a global leader.

MacNaughton sees AI as an opportunity to address health-care issues, and productivity challenges. The Trudeau government, he said, is “reactive,” addressing problems as they arise, but it is not proactive enough, looking ahead to determine what needs to be done to goose economic growth.

MacNaughton is not one of those Liberals who thinks there is a magic solution — like replacing Trudeau with former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney — that can fix what ails them.