Liberals huddle for 1st big policy convention without Trudeau

Liberal Leader Mark Carney turns to supporters after it was announced he won the leadership as his wife Diana Fox looks on at the Liberal leadership announcement in Ottawa on Sunday, March 9, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — Liberal party members are gathering in Montreal and, for the first time in more than a decade, Justin Trudeau and his personal brand of politics won’t tower over the party’s proceedings.

Party faithful will gather as Mark Carney’s ever-expanding big tent of MPs stands on the cusp of achieving a majority government following a series of floor-crossings in Parliament.

• Read more: What to expect at the convention

The convention, which runs Thursday through Saturday, starts just ahead of three byelections set for Monday, and a day after a fifth opposition MP crossed the floor to join the Liberal caucus.

It comes at a high point for the Liberals, who a little more than a year ago felt like they were marching their way out of office. Polling aggregator 338 Canada has the Liberals at a staggering 45 per cent support nationally.

“There’s strong support across the country right now for the prime minister and for the party,” said Jonathan Kalles, a consultant with McMillan Vantage who formerly served as Quebec adviser to Trudeau.

“It’s not about patting themselves on the back, but momentum and energy are important in a political party. Right now the Liberals have it, so it’s an opportune time to get everyone together.”

While Carney handily took the party’s helm at a leadership convention in Ottawa last year, the last party policy convention was held in 2023 — when Trudeau issued a rebuttal to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s claims that the Liberals were too “woke” and were ignoring the real challenges facing Canadians.

Then the Liberals ousted Trudeau and won the 2025 election, and Poilievre lost four of his own caucus members to Carney, who pointed to his economic agenda as a reason to switch.

Carney is set to address the convention on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET — the first time he has done so since winning the leadership.

Kalles said many at the party level still know little about Carney and the convention offers a way for them to get to know him, and for party brass to check the pulse of the grassroots.

That’s key as the party becomes more diverse and more challenging to manage as MPs from widely different political persuasions join Team Carney.

“With people that have such diverse points of view and are fairly ideological, that becomes a challenge. Most Liberals may lean one side or the other, but I would say they are not particularly ideological,” Kalles said. “I don’t know that it’s sustainable in the long term.”

Zita Astravas, a consultant with Wellington Advocacy and Trudeau’s former director of issues management, said Liberals from across the country are “feeling pretty good” right now.

“There’s a spring in people’s steps being a Liberal in politics right now,” she said.

The party needs just two more seats to govern with a clear majority, and it’s all but certain to get them.

Two of the byelections are Toronto-area seats considered safe for the Liberals, while the third is a hot contest with the Bloc Québécois for Terrebonne — an off-island Montreal suburb that’s conspicuously close to where the party convention is being held.

The party machine is expected to crank out a steady stream of canvassers and several francophone cabinet ministers have already knocked on doors in the riding.

But after the latest floor crossing, the byelections are no longer make-or-break for Carney. The Liberals now face what looks like an easy path to a 173-seat majority in the 343-seat House of Commons as of Monday.

Other guest speakers at the convention include Carney’s wife Diana Fox, accessibility activist and former athlete Rick Hansen, and one of godfathers of artificial intelligence, Yoshua Bengio, who is slated to appear on a panel with AI Minister Evan Solomon.

Several top cabinet ministers are also scheduled for panel talks. Friday’s panel on Carney’s economic agenda and Buy Canadian policies includes Canada-U.S. Relations Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Finance Minister François‑Philippe Champagne and Industry Minister Mélanie Joly.

For seasoned party brass, such conventions are schmooze-fests. Government backroom denizens and lobbyists gather for friendly behind-the-scenes meetings while party activists take the stage to push for the adoption of new policies, though such resolutions are non-binding.

The convention will feature policy discussions on electoral reform, strengthening social media restrictions for minors, and limiting the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause by provinces.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser has already shot down the idea of restricting provincial governments’ use of the notwithstanding clause through the constitutional provision known as “disallowance,” which can serve as a federal veto. Disallowance hasn’t been used in some eight decades, though before that point it was used fairly frequently.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press