Selfish? Strategic? Windsor-Essex MP’s weigh-in on Trudeau resignation

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday he is proroguing Parliament and will resign once a new leader is elected to the Liberal Party of Canada.

Windsor-Essex MP’s are weighing in on his resignation.

“We need to turn the page,” Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk said Monday. “We need to put a final stop, and an end point on any internal division, and we need to move forward, united.”

Kusmierczyk declined to say if he agreed with the decision to prorogue versus a snap election.

He believes however the next election will be so “consequential” that it will require a united front by the Liberal Party.

“You look at the investments we're making in people, whether it's dental care, whether it's childcare, whether it's housing, all of those policies, all of that vision is, will be on the ballot in the upcoming election,” said Kusmierczyk. “We need a strong, united Liberal party, to be able to put that vision forward and that choice forward in the next election.”

Kusmierczyk would not say who he intends to support in the next Liberal leadership race.

“It just shows you how selfish the Liberal brand really is,” Windsor-West NDP MP Brian Masse said. “They simply could elect a new leader any time, any place, anywhere.”

Masse believes caucus members could have been and should have been spending the last few weeks organizing a leadership race.

“All that should have been done as they were sharpening their knives and looking to change their leader,” Masse said.

He believes Trudeau should have resigned and a snap election called, as opposed to delaying the resumption of parliament until the end of March.

“We're going to see a circus of Liberal candidates come out right now, just out of the clown car, just kind of fighting over whatever they want,” Masse said. “Then they're (going to) try to come back to rescue parliament after they put Canada as their second choice.”

Essex Conservative MP Chris Lewis declined a request for an interview Monday.

He directed CTV News to the statement of party leader Pierre Poilievre.

"Every Liberal MP in power today and every potential Liberal leadership contender fighting for the top job helped Justin Trudeau break the country over the last nine years,” the statement reads in part. "This cannot go on. We need a carbon tax election now.”