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Veteran London Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos has joined the growing chorus of colleagues urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down.
Fragiskatos, in his third term as Liberal MP for London North Centre, said in an interview on Saturday that calls from local constituents for Trudeau to end his run as party leader have intensified since Chrystia Freeland resigned as deputy prime minister and finance minister in mid-December.
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“I do think it’s time for the prime minister to resign,” Fragiskatos said. “I wanted the prime minister to do what he had committed to doing, and that was to reflect on his future. And I said that the heart of that reflection must be an understanding that no individual is bigger than the Liberal Party of Canada, and much more important than that, no individual is bigger than the country.”
Trudeau set off on his annual Christmas vacation in British Columbia, where he said he would use the Parliament holiday recess to reflect on his future.
“I wanted to give him the space to think but I also wanted to think about what constituents were sharing with me prior to what happened with Ms. Freeland. There were various points of view,” he said. “But now it’s quite overwhelming from within the community (that he should resign). I’m not talking only about Liberal supporters, I’m talking about Londoners in general.”
Fragiskatos added he “respects” Trudeau’s achievements over his near-decade as prime minister, which the MP says have been “very significant and one could even say consequential for Canada.”
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A special meeting of the national Liberal caucus is set for this Wednesday amid mounting internal pressure for Trudeau to make his future clear.
The party has found itself in crisis since Freeland’s sudden resignation from Trudeau’s cabinet on Dec. 16, resulting in the heaviest round of calls yet for the prime minister to resign, including from several of his regional caucuses.
The prime minister has yet to publicly address the calls to resign.
The House of Commons is not set to resume until Jan. 27. All opposition parties, including the federal NDP, say they are prepared to vote non-confidence in Trudeau’s government once the House of Commons returns, leaving the Liberals with no path to avoid being plunged into an election.
Fragiskatos, elected under the Liberal banner in London North Centre in 2015, 2019 and 2021, says he believes the time is now for Trudeau to step down.
“He said that he wanted to take the holidays to think about his future,” Fragiskatos said. “It’s now Jan. 4. I believe the holidays are finished. And it’s time for him, I believe, to make the decision to leave office.”
-With files from National Post reporter Stephanie Taylor
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