Michael Higgins: A strong Bloc is a threat to Canada, thanks Justin

As the election fortunes of Justin Trudeau continue to plummet, he is becoming a danger not just to the survival of the Liberals, but of Canada.

The Trudeau Liberals were dealt a stunning blow Tuesday when they lost what had been an ultra-safe Montreal seat to the Bloc Québécois.

And an analysis of an Abacus poll released at the weekend reveals the Liberals dropping to fourth place if a federal election were held today with the Bloc taking second place.

Having a party committed to the break-up of Canada as the Official Opposition isn’t a recipe for securing the unity of this country.

If Trudeau continues to lead the Liberals to oblivion, then he may well take the country there as well.

The loss of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun was “yet another nail in Justin Trudeau’s coffin,” said Andrew Perez, a Liberal supporter and strategist.

It is becoming clear that the sooner that coffin is nailed down the safer Canada will be.

There were already calls for the prime minister to quit after the devastating loss of Toronto-St-Paul’s, a riding the Liberals had held for 30 years.

“For the future of our party and for the good of our country we need new leadership and a new direction,” New Brunswick MP Wayne Long wrote to his caucus colleagues. “The voters have spoken loud and clear. They want change. I agree.”

Two weeks ago, as Liberals gathered for a caucus retreat, Wayne was still vehement in his opposition.

“I haven’t changed my position one iota,” he said. “The prime minister does need to step down for the good of our party and for the good of the country. We are not the Justin Trudeau Party of Canada. We are the Liberal Party of Canada.”

But the good of the country isn’t the primary motivation for Trudeau. Staying in power is.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Trudeau told a Montreal radio station, according to the Toronto Star. “I’ve got a fight to lead against people who want to hurt this country, who want to hurt our communities, and who want to take the country in directions that — quite frankly — are exactly the opposite of where the world needs to go.”

The country will hurt even more under Trudeau’s on-going leadership if the Bloc is allowed to continue surging in the polls.

The latest loss is in a seat that was held by David Lametti, the former justice minister and attorney general, and before that by former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin.

When parties start losing seats such as Toronto-St-Paul’s and LaSalle-Émard-Verdun then there are no Liberal bastions that can’t be stormed.

And how does the Liberal hierarchy react when staring into the abyss?

Firstly, by telling MPs to change their “attitudes” because – obviously – it’s their fault. According to the CBC, Liberal MPs were appalled when Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada, national campaign co-chair, scolded them at the recent retreat.

Secondly, Trudeau has shown no inclination to bring in new blood or change direction. The prime minister told his caucus that he “can’t wait” to get into it with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

But while Trudeau still believes in himself, few others do.

The Abacus poll showed 61 per cent of people had a negative view of the prime minister, the highest yet recorded. Only 22 per cent of Canadians approve of the job his government is doing – an all-time low.

“The Prime Minister and the Liberals come back to Parliament facing a population who wants change, is deeply unhappy with their performance, are no more optimistic about the direction of the country than when the summer started, and have never had as negative a view of the Prime Minister as it does today,” according to an Abacus analysis.

The decline of the Liberals and Trudeau is merely a matter of political destiny. The rise of the Bloc, however, is an existential danger since it is committed to forming a “new country.”

At a scrum on Wednesday, Trudeau said, “We need people to be more engaged. We need people to understand what is at stake in this upcoming election.”

But blinded by power and self-confidence, Trudeau seems unable to grasp the stakes himself.

“There’s all sorts of reflections to take (on what went wrong),” he said after the results of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun were in. “But the big thing is to make sure that Canadians understand that the choice they get to make in the next election – about the kind of country we are – really matters.”

However, it’s not about the kind of country we are, but whether the rising fortunes of the Bloc will allow us to remain the country of Canada at all.

The longer Trudeau stays, the more he is a clear and present danger to this country.

National Post