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A former Liberal MP has claimed his old party no longer represents the political “centre” in a blistering attack on the Trudeau government’s energy policies.
Dan McTeague, who represented ridings near Toronto between 1993 and 2011, told NowMedia’s Energized show he believes the Grits "will go down” in a wide-ranging interview with Jim Csek and Jason Mann.
Perhaps best known in recent years as Canada’s “Gas Price Wizard” – which included a stint as an analyst at GasBuddy.com – McTeague is now the president of Canadians for Affordable Energy and a vocal critic of Canada’s net-zero policies.
He told NowMedia the Liberals were “never the same” after their historic defeat in the 2011 election.
“The party of the centre completely disintegrated and disappeared,” he said, adding: “The biggest problem I think that the Liberals face today – the Trudeau Liberals – is that they have no experience.
“They got rid of all the smart old guys who've been around for quite some time.”
Focusing on the likes of the carbon tax, McTeague said the party has a “disconnect with reality and people’s ability to make ends meet is going to deliver them an extraordinarily punishing result" in the next election.
McTeague also slammed the federal government for “spending like drunken sailors” during the COVID-19 pandemic, failing to exploit Canada’s natural resources, punishing the middle class and failing to properly manage migration.
He also blasted the Liberals for overseeing a surge in house prices, as well as homelessness.
“We can't have tent cities in a cold country like Canada,” he said.
“You see it in Kelowna. I see it here in Toronto. Something has come undone. It's come unhitched. And I think whoever's very successful in saying, ‘I don't have all the answers and government can't do everything, but here's how we get there’ is going to win [elections].”
McTeague also said Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has been successful with his messaging, prompting the Liberals to start “speaking [his] message back to him.”
But he doesn’t think Poilievre will be going head-to-head with Justin Trudeau in the next election, which must take place before Oct. 20, 2025.
Photo credit: NowMedia/Getty Images
Dan McTeague (left) thinks time's up for Justin Trudeau.
“My personal conviction is that Trudeau can't stay,” he said.
“Sooner or later, the Liberal caucus will throw him out. They are looking at the numbers. There's 140, 150 of them right now. They're going to be reduced to 50, maybe even 40. Most of them are going to say, It's you, it's me, or it's the team. And I think, this time, Justin, you have to take one for the team.”
He predicts Trudeau could announce his resignation as prime minister by February, in time for a leadership convention in May.
“The new government will want to go and test that mandate of the new leader no later than September,” he said.
“So we have an election by October, November of 2024.”
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