Trudeau to face MPs on Wednesday, may prorogue on Thursday

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Is Trudeau getting set to prorogue Parliament this Thursday? Will he be making a major policy announcement?

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Perhaps it will be both.

Speculation of a prorogation ramped up in Ottawa again on Tuesday, just ahead of Trudeau facing a caucus meeting where some Liberal MPs will demand he step down. Trudeau is reluctant to go and may suspend the sitting of the House just five weeks after returning from the summer recess.

Minister’s offices have been told that Thursday is a blackout day for announcements except those coming from the centre, meaning Trudeau’s office. That sparked speculation that Trudeau could do something dramatic such as cutting immigration rates dramatically or even shut down the sitting of the Commons to avoid further drama.

On Tuesday morning, ahead of a cabinet meeting, Trudeau‘s ministers stopped one by one to express strong support for their boss staying in his job.

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“I support the prime minister, I’m heading into the cabinet meeting, he’s the leader of the government,” said Justice Minister Arif Virani.

Health Minister Mark Holland went so far as to try to argue that it was a good thing that Liberal MPs were debating the future leadership of their party.

“I think that’s a positive thing. I think that’s strong,” Holland said of the shadowy push to topple the leader.

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Immigration Minister Marc Miller and Heritage Minister Pascal St. Onge also stepped up to defend their boss.

In the House of Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was having fun at Trudeau‘s expense over the leadership drama, saying Liberal MPs aren’t allowed to speak up in their caucus meetings.

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“There is this strange rule in the Liberal caucus that they need to have permission from the prime minister to speak at the microphone,” Poilievre said in the House.

“Will the Prime Minister lift the gag so that his Liberal MPs can say to his face that he is not worth the crime, the cost and the corruption?”

While Trudeau denied the rule of MPs needing permission, Liberal MPs have said they must sign up in advance to speak. In response, Trudeau accused Poilievre of playing politics.

“The reality is that we can see the point to which that the Conservative leader is simply focused on playing politics and gaining power. That is why he wants to talk about things that have nothing to do with delivering for Canadians,” Trudeau said.

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As much as the Conservative MPs were laughing, and Liberal MPs were cringing, the fact is Trudeau has lost control in the Commons. Trudeau’s party, and by extension his government, has been completely consumed with the internal debate of whether he should stay.

Meanwhile, we are now in the third week of the government being unable to move their agenda in the House.

Since the beginning of October, all government business has been set aside while MPs debate whether their privileges have been breached by the government for refusing to hand over documents.

Between the internal drama of the Liberal Party, and the government’s inability to move its own agenda in the House of Commons, very little is being done in official Ottawa.

If Trudeau now turns to proroguing the House to save his own political skin, expect some anger from the public.

Many Liberals felt Trudeau should have announced prorogation in June, and rest for the fall with a new throne speech and agenda for his government. They didn’t do that, they wallowed in their own failures instead, and now he’s desperate to find a way out of his quandary.

Now Canadians may pay once again for Trudeau’s own failures. Watch what happens in caucus Wednesday, but keep an eye on Thursday.

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