NANAIMO, B.C. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “can’t wait” to get back to Ottawa to get into it with Pierre Poilievre in the House of Commons, he said Wednesday as he made the case to his own party to put up a united front against the Conservatives.

The three-day Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., was Trudeau’s first chance to address his MPs as a group since they lost a long-held Liberal riding in Toronto to the Conservatives.

The loss led to a fractious summer punctuated by calls inside and outside of caucus for a new leader.

The focus of the gathering has been to reunite the party and turn their focus to the Tories.

“I can’t wait to continue getting into it this fall with Poilievre, whose perspective is cuts are the only way forward,” Trudeau told reporters outside the closed-door meeting Wednesday.

Before the meeting began, Quebec Liberal MP Alexandra Mendès told Radio-Canada that while she supports Trudeau as leader, she has heard from constituents who are adamant the prime minister needs to go.

Despite grumblings before the retreat, Liberals who spoke publicly on the sidelines of the meetings have, so far, expressed positivity about their party’s approach to the coming election year.

Trudeau says there is a diversity of opinions within the caucus about the approach, and even about his leadership, but he maintained that he’s focused on the things his government is doing for Canadians.

“The reality is, all of us are focused on what to do to make sure that Canadians are being supported, are feeling confident about the future,” Trudeau said.

The latest survey from polling firm Leger suggests the Conservatives’ vast lead over the Liberals is holding steady, with about 45 per cent of decided voters saying they would cast a ballot for the Tories, compared to 25 per cent for the Liberals.

The Liberals will face their next test in just a few days with two more critical byelections in Montreal and Winnipeg.

Trudeau says people in those byelections, and in the next national election, will have to choose between Poilievre’s plan to cut services and the Liberal plan to invest in Canada.

“All byelections are important, but all byelections are also a moment for Canadians to express their concerns but also their ambitions for the future,” Trudeau said in French.

He said Liberals are working really hard in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, which was held by former justice minister David Lametti held since Trudeau took power in 2015.

“Do they want cuts, like Mr. Poilievre is proposing? Or do they believe when we have one of the best financial outlooks in the world, we should put it in service to investments in Canadians,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press