With just four weeks to go until the House of Commons adjourns for the summer, CTV’s weekly Question Period panel of political strategists say the Prime Minister is likely to reshuffle his cabinet.
Kory Teneycke, who was campaign manager for Ontario Premier Doug Ford and former communications director for former prime minister Stephen Harper, told question period host Vassy Kapelos on the panel airing Sunday that summer presents the perfect opportunity to “rebalance your team.”
He said the summer months give those taking on new roles a chance to get comfortable before MPs return to Ottawa for the fall session.
“I think you want to get some people who have been stumbling out of positions where they’ve been stumbling and get your strongest communicators into roles where you’re really going to need them,” Teneycke said, citing finance as an example. .
“If you want to win an economic narrative, you have to have a very strong communicator in that role,” he said. “While I think Minister Freeland has a lot of things she’s very capable of, I don’t think communications is top of the list.”
Teneycke also said this summer is “probably the last good chance for them to do a big rebalance of the team before the final push to the election.”
The Liberals’ confidence and supply agreement with the NDP sees the latter support a minority Trudeau government until 2025 in exchange for progress on certain policy priorities, but some have speculated the election could come even sooner.
Scott Reid, CTV News political analyst and former communications director for Prime Minister Paul Martin, agreed that a cabinet reshuffle is “likely” and “probably wise,” adding that he also foresees a prorogation of Parliament and a speech from the throne, which he called an opportunity to “restart.”
But, he cautioned, those things don’t necessarily mean an agenda for the Liberals, who shouldn’t wait until August to make some changes.
“A shuffle will give you some things, but when you’re in government, you tend to start believing that a cabinet shuffle gives you a new lease on life,” Reid said. “Most of the time, most people don’t even realize it.”
He said his advice to the Liberals would be to “don’t waste time getting out of Ottawa” and “get the prime minister on the road” so he can focus on issues that will win for Canadians, instead of being on the road defense against conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
It’s been nine months since Poilievre became leader of the Conservatives, and the acrimony between him and the prime minister has only grown, while some polls show Poilievre and the Conservatives ahead of the Liberals.
Kathleen Monk, a former NDP strategist and communications director for the late Jack Layton, said the Liberal government needs to spend the summer months focusing on appearing less out of touch, especially when it comes to the economy and butter.
“When there’s bad economic news, it’s always bad for the government, and it’s always good for the opposition,” he said. “So they’re always going to be on the back foot when it comes to defending where they are with the economy.”
“They have to wake up and be less on the sidelines of it, and that will have to happen at the gate this summer and on the barbecue circuit this summer,” he also said. “And frankly, they’re going to have to come up with some policies by next September that people can really relate to and ease their pain.”
Sunday’s Strategy Session discusses what they’re looking at over the next four weeks and into the summer months in the video at the top of this article.
