Trudeau still confident he offers what Canadians want, despite dismal poll results

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is rejecting the suggestion that the Liberals could benefit from a change at the top after the Democratic party saw a bump in the polls following U.S. President Joe Biden's exit from the presidential race last month.

Trudeau is in Halifax for a three-day cabinet retreat preparing for the upcoming fall sitting of Parliament, and the time for him to woo voters is becoming increasingly narrow. 

He has been less visible than usual since the Liberals lost a critical byelection in Toronto in June, but said he spent the summer listening to Canadians who have real concerns that his government is working to address.

"I think the big lesson is in responding to the things that people are actually worried about," he said on Monday morning, when asked if he's taking an lessons from seeing the surge of support for vice-president Kamala Harris and the Democrats since Biden left the race and she became the presidential candidate.

"Right now in Canada, the decision to be there to invest in Canadians has left Canada with one of the strongest economies in the world in a very difficult time," he said. 

"And we believe that using that strong economy to support Canadians in responsible ways is the best way to build the future. That's what we're focused on. We're not focused on culture wars, on complaining that everything is broken, going off on strange tangents that, quite frankly, Canadians are scratching their heads about."

He was referring to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has seen success in the polls by making the case to Canadians that Trudeau has left people poorer and less safe than they were a decade ago.

Poilievre has said this retreat is just a "reward" for cabinet ministers who have made Canada worse off.

Trudeau did move Monday to address two significant issues for his government, rolling back changes that saw a massive uptick in temporary foreign workers and announcing plans to impose new tariffs on electric vehicles made in China.

In 2022 the government lifted some restrictions on the hiring of low-wage foreign workers during a post-pandemic labour shortage, but with unemployment now creeping back up — particularly among young people — the government says that has to change.

It is now undoing the changes made in 2022.

It's also moving to match new U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Biden announced in May he would quadruple the import taxes on Chinese-made EVs to 100 per cent and Canada is now matching that on Oct. 1.

During a working dinner on Sunday night, the Liberal cabinet heard from U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who warned about China's economic policies including overproduction and state subsidies that lead to unfair pricing and competition. 

Sullivan told reporters that the U.S. won't tell Canada what to do but that there are significant issues around economic fairness and data security related to Chinese-made cars.

"The U.S. does believe a united front, a co-ordinated approach on these issues, benefits all of us," he said.

The Liberals are in a make-it-or-break-it moment with about a year left before the next federal election, and have been trailing Poilievre and the Conservatives in the polls by double digits for almost a year.

At a press conference of her own in Halifax, the party's deputy leader Melissa Lantsman called for Trudeau to step aside and call a "carbon tax election."

She also slammed the government's handling of the labour dispute that shut down the country's two largest railways. 

Traffic at the Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City was set to resume Monday, after both companies locked out their workers last Thursday.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration to end the dispute, and the board agreed to do so Saturday. 

The Teamsters union intends to fight the decision in court.

"This is a prime minister who hasn't been able to bring forward a deal, and we're going to watch this closely," Lantsman said, adding, "We also believe that the best deals are made at the bargaining table."

Teamsters president Paul Boucher travelled to Halifax and plans a protest on Tuesday.

"An injustice against us has been done by government," Boucher said in an interview. "What they have done to the railworkers … to stop the work stoppages, fundamentally takes rights away from the rights to free collective bargaining, and we're protesting against that."

Trudeau and the Liberals argue the work stoppage was having a massive negative effect on thousands of other workers, as it disrupted supply chains.

"The best results happen at the negotiating table. That's why we've done everything in our power to continue to look for negotiated resolutions," Trudeau told reporters Monday. 

"In this case we needed to take action after talks had broken down … because too many Canadian jobs and livelihoods were at stake."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 26, 2024.