Top Liberal ‘very confident’ in chances of winning majority
Running in N.B., LeBlanc says aloud what Trudeau has not yet acknowledged
HALIFAX —Finally, someone said it out loud.
Dominic LeBlanc, the New Brunswick Liberal candidate and Justin Trudeau’s intergovernmental affairs minister, said Wednesday what his party’s leader has not yet acknowledged: that his party is still hoping to win a majority in next week’s election.
More than four weeks into the campaign, polls show the Conservatives and Liberals in a virtual dead heat in many regions across the country, suggesting a minority government is the most likely outcome of the Monday vote.
But with the polls so close, LeBlanc believes it is still possible — with swings in a few key ridings — for the Liberals to win a majority of seats in the House of Commons.
“I’m very confident in our chances of forming a majority government,” LeBlanc told the Star, marking the first time during the campaign that a senior party official has publicly said as much.
Asked if that means he doesn’t believe the Liberals could work with the New Democrats while heading a minority government, LeBlanc demurred. “The good news is we’ll have all those answers next week,” he said. “We don’t need to speculate.”
While Trudeau stayed on the attack Wednesday against Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, he also directed criticism at his rival for progressive-left votes, charging that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party “like to say nice things about what they do but don’t actually have a plan.”
LeBlanc later told reporters a Liberal majority would be a better outcome because “Canadians will be well served by a rigorous focus on the things that matter to them: the fight against climate change, affordability issues.
“I’m hearing in my constituency all the time about affordability challenges around child care, and what’s interesting is it’s grandparents talking to me about the challenge for their sons or their daughters and their grandchildren in terms of affordable, accessible child care.”
LeBlanc also rejected suggestions that the country is facing growing divisions and a national unity challenge. “It’s not what I’ve observed over the past 14 months,” he said.
Trudeau didn’t utter the word “majority” while speaking to a crowd of about 150 supporters later Wednesday in Fredericton, but said his Liberals “need a resounding choice by Canadians” to finish the fight against the pandemic and address big challenges like economic recovery and climate change.
Speaking to reporters in Fredericton, LeBlanc flatly rejected the prospect of a Conservative minority. “It’s not gonna happen,” he said.