A group of lawmakers within the ruling Liberal Party in Canada are building pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down, news agency Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
According to a CBC News report citing sources, at least 20 dissatisfied MPs met in Ottawa this week. They signed a document calling for a change in leadership.
The move followed a recent by-election loss for the Liberal Party in Montreal and Toronto, prompting a series of secretive meetings among dissatisfied MPs, against Trudeau, who has led Canada since 2015.
According to CBC News, at least 20 leaders have signed the document in Ottawa calling for a change in leadership.
Earlier Toronto Star, citing unidentified people, reported about an effort to publicly pressure on Prime Minister Trudeau to step down. The report further said at least 30 to 40 MPs are ready to sign a letter demanding a change in leadership. The number of dissenting MPs, however, may fall short of a critical mass.
It is important to note that the Liberal Party holds 153 seats in the House of Commons in Canada.
The prime minister’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Unlike the traditional letter demanding Trudeau’s resignation, the dissenting leaders are asking the dissatisfied MPs to sign a document as a pledge to secure a commitment from MPs to push for Trudeau’s resignation.
Meanwhile, Canadian Press has reported trade minister Mary Ng, who’s traveling back to Canada from Laos with Trudeau, as saying that she was disappointed to read about the MPs’ plan. She added that she has full confidence in Prime Minister Trudeau.
In September, the Canadian prime minister suffered a setback when a parliamentary pact with another party, which had kept Trudeau in power, fell apart. Later in the month, he survived an attempt from the opposition Conservative Party to force an election.
Earlier on Friday, the Canadian Prime Minister said he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a summit in Laos and spoke to him about the “work that we need to do”.
Ties between the two nations were strained after Trudeau had alleged India’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada’s Surrey city last year.
