BATRA'S BURNING QUESTIONS: Is there trouble in Carney's Liberal Land?

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]still riding high in public opinion polling, but could there be trouble in liberal land? Hello everyone, I'm Adrien Batra. With me are Lori Goldstein and Brian Lily. Okay, Lori. So, in spite of Carney's popularity, uh there seems to be some consternation amongst the Liberal ranks. 14 Liberal MPs recently wrote to the prime minister uh remaining anonymous because they didn't want to be disrespectful, but they have raised some concerns with the PM about the backslide of environmental policy. And then we recently saw that uh troublemaker Steven Gibo has announced that he is resigning from government altogether and will be gone from the Liberal caucus. say good writtens to that and Carney is probably not so uh unhappy about Gibo's departure. But there seems to be some concerns amongst the liberal ranks that things aren't going so swimmingly. Lori, >> well look, you know, Carney's been in in power for more than a year now. And um so now is the time where things start have to start happening in terms of all the promises he's made. Um, in terms of Gibo and these 14 anonymous Liberal MPs who are upset about uh what they view as him backing away from Trudeau's climate strategy, well, he is backing away from it uh because it's it was a disaster um to for them to sort of basically argue they want to go back to the damage that that Trudeau inflicted on our economy with his ridiculous um things to, you know, failed things to lower our emissions. Um that's going to hurt um the Liberal brand. Um if I was Carney, I would remind them that they have their jobs because of him. That if they were running under Trudeau in that last election, liberals could have been the third party in terms of of Yeah, you know, people are going off for ambassadorships and all that government of change. Yeah, I think that's going to, you know, put a number of writings in play, but they're all strong liberal uh writings. And so one would expect that, you know, things would, you know, um that they won't lose that majority. I guess if it gets razor thin, he could entertain um uh calling an election. But but but I don't see that happening. If you look at his numbers, the Liberals right now are seeing are sitting pretty. But you know, this is the problems of um a party that um the liberals say they're a big tent, but there are different factions within that tent. The one thing that would be damaging that I would perceive I think Yubau isn't leaving till the summer. So it's what does he do now? Um you know is he still going to be a good soldier or is he going to be kind of this um um you know constantly like complaining about what the government is doing or when he leaves uh federal politics you know becoming a spokesman for Quebec how's betrayed us um on all of the climate change initiatives. So, I guess that could cause some damage. But to me, this is just a function of, you know, it's been a year. People who aren't in cabinet think they should be in cabinet.

[00:03:07]Um, uh, people in cabinet look at other people and go, they're not pulling their weight. And also, you know, I think by now Carney has an assessment of the qualities of his ministers. And my guess is he's not happy with all of them.

[00:03:22]>> You know, Brian, I don't think Gibo is the kind that's going to go quietly into the night. I think he may very well go scorched earth. He in his farewell interviews he's done with a number of media over the last 24 hours. Uh he was very he made it a point to mention all these other uh MPs in the Liberal caucus that are concerned about what's going on. But I I I think Lori makes an an important point and that's Carney probably isn't too upset to see some of these individuals go who he probably perceived as we're we're dragging back the uh Liberal party to to far way far to the left. That's not going to be a problem in the next election.

[00:04:08]But I've been told that there are a number of MPs uh including some in cabinet that he would like to have replaced with his own team. And when we were talking about the possibility of an early election, Lori's right, we could face that again. You know, if the majority gets razor thin or he thinks he can use Donald Trump to his advantage, that could still happen. But when we were before Carney did get his majority and there was the faction of advisers around him that were saying, "Boss, you got to get ready." they were looking to recruit new people to replace some and and so Jonathan Wilkinson, Steven Gibo leaving, you know, he's not going to be upset uh not upset at Nathaniel Erskin Smith leaving. Uh you know, there's only one of those writings that uh they would have a possibility of losing in in my view right now. Uh and and that would have been North Vancouver if the conservatives were on the ascendancy.

[00:05:03]They're not uh right now. You look at the national polling and the Liberals have a 12-point lead. Well, in in British Columbia, when you pull up the latest uh Leger numbers for Post Media in British Columbia, it's 55% say they will back the Liberals. 34% say they will back the Conservatives. So, Wilkinson's writing, North Vancouver, which you know, in the past has gone conservative. It was represented by the Reform Party back in the 90s. Um, you know, maybe it could have gone, but not with numbers like that. in in Quebec.

[00:05:34]Well, Steven Gilbo's writing used to belong, you know, 15 years ago to Jill Duceep, the leader of the block. Uh but right now, the Liberals are sitting at 47% in uh in Quebec and 27% for the block, 18% for the Conservatives. they're going to hold on to these seats, but you know, obviously some people are the shine is off for them when you see things like Karina um Gould apparently telling people uh she doesn't like reporting to a CEO dressed up as a prime minister that Mark Carney style is wearing on her and some of her colleagues. So, Prime Minister Mark Carney in the end might be quite happy with some of this dissension amongst his own ranks because it could bode well for him in the next election.

[00:06:23]Well, let us know what you think in the comments below. Like this video and subscribe to our YouTube channel and go to the toronto.com. You'll find commentary and coverage there you will not find anywhere else.