OTTAWA (HRNW) – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will kick off what is likely to be the last Liberal Party convention before the next election on Thursday, and though fatigue with his government has deepened there is little question that he is fully in command of his party.
Trudeau will seek to rally some 3,500 Liberal members from across the country at 8 p.m. ET (0000 GMT) after 7-1/2 years as head of government and as much as two more years before the next vote, though most political analysts expect an election some time next year after the economy emerges from an expected slump.
Trudeau’s main rival, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, became leader of his party last year and since then has often led in opinion polls as he systematically attacks both the government and its leader, recently for failing to head off the country’s biggest strike in history.
Some 57% of Canadians disapprove of Trudeau, compared with an approval rating of 37%, his lowest approval rating since September 2021, amid high inflation and a housing shortage, according to a March survey by the Angus Reid Institute.