He's not getting the message'

Trudeau shrugs off the naysayers as he heads into a Liberal caucus retreat

- TONDA MACCHARLES

OTTAWA The summer ride is over. So too is the Justin Trudeau listening tour.

The prime minister spent much of two months meeting in small groups or individually with nervous Liberal MPs, many angry after the June loss of a supposedly safe Toronto seat to the Conservatives.

Trudeau also spent two months running, paddling, boxing and bounding from one summer festival to another, taking thousands of selfies with Canadians who appeared not to have read polls about how disliked he is.

So what did the prime minister take away from it all?

His practised answers at a cabinet retreat and again this past week after his co-operation deal with the NDP fell apart show clearly he does not believe he is the problem.

Rather, Trudeau believes he is the solution.

In public and in private, Trudeau has expressed his determination to stay at the helm of his party through to the next election.

And he believes he now has most of his caucus behind him.

The Star spoke to more than a dozen Liberals inside and outside the Prime Minister’s Office, cabinet and caucus, and agreed to requests they not be identified in order to gauge where they believe the prime minister’s head is at.

All said Trudeau plans to stay the course.

Not all are thrilled with that.

But most said Trudeau is newly energized for the fight ahead. And the death of the NDP co-operation deal doesn’t bother the prime minister or many of those around him.

If anything, after his summer listening tour, Trudeau is, surprisingly, “more emboldened,” said one Liberal.

Another said, “I think there is a path to victory that he’s confident about. Obviously it’s not what it was in 2015 by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s there, and I don’t think anyone doubts his capacity to win the last two weeks of the campaign.”