Pontiac MP Sophie Chatel calls for vote on Liberal party leadership

Pontiac MP Sophie Chatel calls for vote on Liberal party leadership

Last Wednesday (October 23), during a highly publicized meeting of the federal Liberal Party’s national caucus, MPs discussed the future of the party’s leadership with an election around the corner. During the meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was presented with a letter from 24 MPs requesting that he step down from the party’s leadership. The calls for his ouster have grown louder following by-election defeats earlier this year in traditionally Liberal ridings of Toronto-St. Paul’s and LaSalle–Émard–Verdun in Montreal.

While Pontiac MP Sophie Chatel declined to discuss what was said in the closed caucus meeting, The Hill Times newspaper reported that she was one of the MPs who called for Trudeau to step down as leader, which she didn’t deny.

Chatel said that it’s normal for the public to want change after close to a decade under the same leadership, and said the Liberals should at least consider a change at the helm.

Chatel echoed her fellow dissenting MPs in requesting a secret ballot vote among caucus regarding Trudeau’s future as party leader.

Chatel also confirmed that she would be seeking re-election. The next federal election will take place by October 2025 at the latest, but could be called earlier in the event of a successful non-confidence motion. Chatel was first elected in 2021, following the sudden departure of former MP Will Amos, and secured 26,899 votes (43.4%), more than 14,000 votes ahead of Conservative candidate Michel Gauthier, who finished second.