Party leaders gearing up to hit the summer BBQ circuit | Power Play with Mike Le Couteur

it is the first day of summer and the first day that the House of Commons isn’t sitting so leaders are hitting the road taking their message to the barbecue near you Pier PV is kicking things off in an RV with his wife and kids while prime minister Justin Trudeau was an Atlantic candidate today so how important are these summer tours for each leader and will they be able to punch through with their message let’s take that question to the front bench John Tor Tom Mare and Christy kirkup join us today christe I’m G to start with you is this summer different than past summers in terms of the political Stakes for both of these leaders I think the Stak specifically for prime minister Justin Trudeau could not be higher right now I cannot think of a moment in covering him over the course of the last nine years uh where the Prime Minister has been facing this Do or Die moment um you have even reporting today about uh members of the liberal caucus uh you know uh anonymously um you know relaying the fact that they perhaps would like him to step aside and to get out of the way and to allow them for enough time to have a leadership race before the next election campaign Justin Trudeau is in the fight of his political life and you could see him there in Nova Scotia today he’s trying to be that guy he’s trying to you know point to the things that the government’s doing he’s trying to you know I think um the the frame from the Liberals they are trying to say we you know this is a hopeful message here’s um how we’re we’re focused on Solutions but at the end of the day some liberals think the solution to the problem in the liberal party is that the Prime Minister needs to get the boot so really important summer for him and frankly for Pierre POV as he tries to continue to make gains and frankly build the infrastructure to what the conservatives hope will be a majority government and I’m just curious if Justin Trudeau will remain in this role by the time the summer is over yeah John and it’s interesting when you consider the fight of his life because there there are also some liberals that are saying you know what um let him wear this one and maybe we’ll be better off and and the Damage won’t be as bad if he leads us into the election but also Justin Trudeau when he’s backed into a corner uh and he has to fight that is sometimes when the best version of him comes out he’s a formidable campaigner uh but I’m going to make reference to prayer in a moment which may be more valuable but I think that it starts with the byelection on Monday because I think if the byelection goes poorly in a seat the Liberals of held for 25 years uh you’ll start to see a much louder chorus of people talking about him going and he’ll have to decide whether he carries on with the summer tour or whether he steps aside but if he has the summer tour I think you can see even from where he started today in Atlantic Canada he’s got to go to the places where they hold seats presently uh and go to places where normally it would be embarrassing to go there because you’d say why are you there if you’ve held the seat for 20 or 25 years but they’re in that kind of trouble they’ve got to go there they’ve got to focus on talking to the local media because it gets around you guys frankly in terms of uh you know getting a message through that is is very difficult for them to get through the national media at this stage of the the game and then I mentioned going to church and I think I’m I’m sort of half tongue and- cheek about this but I think he should go to Every Good warar every MOS every church or at least one in every place he’s visiting and say a prayer that the economy starts to come back stronger and that they avoid the kind of stuff they’ve had just about every month where some Fiasco occurs that has to do with execution often not they’re doing it’s sometimes public servant or just circumstances because they need to have kind of a quiet summer in that regard to try to get the message out and some help from the economy to have people will have their own sense of hope that things are getting better so I think maybe the church visits I don’t know if that’ll help unless you believe in prayer or not it’s funny whether or not he’s going to get any divine intervention either but that you mention churches because he’s going to a City this weekend uh where it was famously said that you can’t throw a stone without shattering a stained glass window he’s heading to Montreal from what we’re hearing from the prime minister’s office for fet zja uh Tom that is sort of one of those Touchstone things that you need to do as a Federal leader you need to go to Quebec and celebrate the fet national uh but that’s where Pier PV is as well as he’s kicking off this tour in an RV with his family so it almost seems like the Battle of Quebec is really shaping up this early in the game well it is because there are 78 seats to be had and that’s quite a large number I’ve always said that the GTA the greater Toronto area and Quebec tend to be the ones that can move the most and therefore decide elections um Mr PV clearly has an outstanding Advanced team team he is going to events that I know about I was a Quebec MP and a party leader but I I think it’s the first time I’ve seen a leader from any elsewhere in Canada heading to the rodeo of course he’ll be at the Stampede and Calgary he’ll flip Pancakes there but he’s going to stac in the shalava to a rodeo there which is a delightful family event and he’s going to get a good reception he’s going to go to the Mong in s so you know keep an eye on him he’s got this figured out he’s going to a place where it appear he can be competitive with the block outside of Greater Montreal because greater Montreal is still going to be mostly liberal uh but outside of Greater Montreal we’re talking you know 40 some odd seats he’s going to be competitive with the Block in most of those seats and that’s why blette the head of the the block is very nervous because he knows that he he knows that count us the there these are voters who will go and change and spit turn on a dime and talk to each other the social media was invented in Quebec long before anybody had a h handheld iPhone you know people talk to each other and they Chang very quickly how they’re going to appreciate he has to put on operation charm he can be uh you know in his media Avail and stuff like that quite offputting he gave an interview yesterday H in Montreal that was almost comical because he he blamed absolutely everything that’s ever happened on Justin Trudeau and he’s got to be careful he doesn’t become a caricature of himself he’s got to start putting a little bit of stuff in the shop window Harper is telling him no no don’t say anything about what you’re going to do let them you know just just beat Trudeau but that that’s not going to work he’s going to have to start giving a little bit of a hint Which social programs is going to cut he can’t say he’s going to balance the budget lower taxes and not cut programs so he’s going to have to start being a little bit clearer about that but overall the impression that we had until Trudeau finally as a Johnny come lately said oh by the way I’m going to Montreal too because it’s St John Baptist weekend you know what Trudeau’s worried about is what what’s happening in Toronto St Paul on Monday that that’s got 100% of his attention right now he’s terrified about it John I think giv such an excellent rundown of it nothing more needs to be said but he’s totally nervous about that whereas PV is showing confidence moving into Quebec going all over the place meeting people greeting people and trying to build up his numbers there I think it’s going to work for PF if he can get rid of the people who tell him oh and mention Trudeau in every other sentence and say that he’s responsible and everything is his fault because everything’s broken I I think people are starting to get a bit tired of that yeah Tom just mentioned the festival Mongolia for people who don’t know it it’s a hot air balloon festival in San how important is it for as Tom was mentioning Pier PV not to be blowing hot air but really to be talking to people about what he wants yeah I think that um you know all the polling suggest that you know a lot of people don’t like Justin Trudeau but they the verdict seems to be you know out about uh Pierre POV and whether he’s a likable guy and as he becomes more exposed I think that is going to be the test of how he’s actually able to uh be become that alternative option and that people are going to be looking closer and to Tom’s Point wondering about his policy proposals because um you know it does get a bit old if you’re just you know again saying that Justin Trudeau has essentially ruined everything and then people are going to say okay well what what what are you going to do about it uh I think um I think the thing about Pier pov’s team that I have noticed in the last number of months is that it is so clear that they are extremely experienced again when I talked about building the infrastructure toward a majority they know what they’re doing they are like you know they essentially have like a war room um I’m sure they’re watching this show uh you know and and and and by the way he’s welcome to come on it just just to be clear I mean sorry continue on um and so you know they they are in full campaign mode so for all the people who keep talking about oh you know uh 18 months until the next election like the the campaign is underway gear up for it this summer is going to be as you know a political reporter I I think you and I Mike are going to be pretty busy they’re going to be um you know hopping all over the country and Pier PV and his team are going to be extremely deliberate about where they’re going and what they’re doing because they do I think have a very deliberate strategy that’s been at play for months and I think that Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are trying to retool their game and again that is the difference that Tom outlined the difference between essentially trying to play catchup or um you know really showing confidence and Pier PV certainly has those uh you know that wind in his sales John I’ve got about 15 seconds left in this question to you you mentioned St Paul Toronto St Paul and that byelection so which one of these two leaders will be in that riding uh raising their hands in Victory on that day I don’t know I think it’s really going to be a photo finish uh you know I mean and that’s a surprising thing to say when you’ve got a seat that’s been held by the Liberals for 26 years but I think the the war in the Middle East and other things have complicated it for them and plus all of the stuff we’ve been talking about in terms of Mr trudo’s unpopularity so I think it’s going to be a photo finish and it will come down as these things often do in a byelection to organization and who gets the votes out I’m not trying to dodge answering I just think it’s very close Okay and we’ll be watching we appreciate this John Tor toml care chrisy Kirk up we got a

Party leaders are hitting the road for a summer filled with campaign stops. The Front Bench panel weighs in.

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