Justin Trudeau is on the ropes in Quebec

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals faced yet another major by-election loss in the Montreal constituency of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun yesterday, making for two consecutive electoral setbacks within months after the loss of Toronto-St Paul to the Conservatives in June. This time, the ruling party’s candidate Laura Palestini lost by a few hundred votes to Louis-Philippe Sauvé of the separatist Bloc Québécois, the main opponent in the province of Quebec.

The Liberals not only lost but went down in a state of public disunity. The local campaign declined to use Trudeau’s face in its signage, while the MP from a nearby constituency openly acknowledged her leader’s unpopularity and called for his resignation. It also did not help Liberal morale when their national campaign chair announced his retirement just days before the vote, adding to the growing loss of confidence from within the party’s highest ranks.