Today's letters: Post-Trudeau Liberal party faces shaky future
Wednesday, Jan. 8: Could the Liberal party be decimated, then absorbed by the NDP, a reader asks. You can write to us too, at letters@ottawacitizen.com

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So many questions loom for Liberals
With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acceding to party demands that he step down, focus will now be on who succeeds him as party leader. With a
non-confidence motion coming almost as soon as Parliament resumes after
prorogation (which I thought was a sensible move), the country will face an election soon.
A number of MPs, some of them cabinet ministers, are not seeking re-election. This puts the onus on riding associations to pick strong candidates with “small-l” liberal bona fides but no hint of association with the Trudeau government.
This also means the prime minister should not engage in any of the historically too-frequent interceding in local candidate selection; it needs to be entirely up to the riding assciations.
The party doesn’t want to find itself suffering the same fate as the Brian Mulroney Conservatives did under Kim Campbell in 1993, when they dropped from 156 to two seats and lost official party standing. The Conservatives were eventually absorbed into the Reform Party. Should a similar electoral catastrophe befall the Liberals, would they become absorbed by the NDP?
And if the polls are any indication of who will likely form the government, just who would form the Official Opposition? There is much to ponder … for both the parties and the electorate.
Mark Hammer, Ottawa
Finally, the emperor gives up the throne
It’s sad that Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement took so long and that so much damage has been done to the country through his reign, but finally the emperor’s empty suit is being hung up.
William Vanveen, Kemptville
Liberals must choose an adult this time
At last: a leadership contest. I hope the Liberals choose an adult this time.? Justin Trudeau was not all bad, but he did seem to behave as if he were at a costume party. I’m not convinced that choosing Chrystia Freeland as leader would be an improvement. After all, she did introduce the tax measures that have given Pierre Poilievre all his talking points.
When will people figure out that our country needs a real grown-up leader?? It could be someone like Mark Carney. But first, he’ll have to get past the messy pseudo-launch others are conducting on his behalf. Then we shall see if there is another candidate, such as Dominic LeBlanc, who can outrun him.
Regardless, it’s not a game anymore, due to the threats presented by the Donald Trump presidency.
Judy Morrison, Nepean
Hold your head high, Prime Minister
Prime Minister, you have done a solid job in a role that became exponentially more difficult on a daily basis. I admire your work during COVID; I admire the work you have done on the Indigenous file; and as the grandson of Stanley Duzbiak and Mary Koichuck who fled Ukraine from growing Russian aggression in 1905 and 1915, I am grateful for your support of Ukraine during this illegal war against her people.
Hold your head high. In time, just as happened for your father, your good work and passion for this country will be celebrated. It often takes longer than it should, but occasionally Canada behaves like a “just society.”
Thomas Brawn,?Orléans
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