Liberals announce new campaign director amid new push to oust Trudeau

The Liberal Party has named Andrew Bevan as its new national campaign director for the next federal election. The announcement comes as the party continues to face lagging polls and as party leader Justin Trudeau is facing new pressure to step aside.

Marjorie Michel will serve as the party’s deputy campaign director.

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“Andrew Bevan has been a leader in moving forward progressive priorities for more than 30 years. With deep experience working at the highest levels of provincial and federal politics, he – along with the support of Marjorie Michel and the entire Liberal campaign team – is ready to build a winning campaign that focuses on Canadians’ priorities and fights to build a better future for everyone,” Trudeau said in a statement on Sunday.

Bevan has most recently served as the chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. He also served as Chief of Staff and Principal Secretary to former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne from 2013 to 2018 — and was a senior advisor to Wynne through two provincial elections.

Back in early September, former campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst announced he would be stepping down for personal reasons. He officially left the job on Sept. 30.

The timing of Broadhurst’s resignation left some Liberal MPs concerned about the party’s direction. The possibility of an early election increased after the NDP ended its supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals in September.

Some Liberal MPs launch new push to oust Trudeau

The announcement of Bevan’s appointment comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a new push from within the Liberal caucus to step aside.

As first reported on Friday by the Toronto Star and later confirmed by CTV News, a group of backbench MPs, primarily from Atlantic Canada and southwestern Ontario, are in discussions to formally release a request for the prime minister to consider the future of the Liberal party in making a decision about whether to stay at its helm.

The discussions among Liberal MPs escalated after what one MP described as a “fraught’ caucus meeting on Wednesday, in which the prime minister and his chief of staff did not attend because they were out of the country.

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After asking staff from the Prime Minister's Office to leave, a group of those MPs broke off after caucus in what three of them described to CTV News as a "secret" caucus. It was during this meeting that talk of something more formal developed, though other MPs in the group insisted they wanted to tell the prime minister directly.

CTV News spoke to 24 Liberal MPs Friday, about half of whom said they were aware of a so-called letter circulating but had not put their name to it.

The prime minister and his staff learned of these reports on the way back from the ASEAN summit.

Liberals behind Conservatives by more than 20 points

With the potential of an early election looming, the Liberal Party’s new campaign director will face an uphill challenge as the party continues to lag in the polls.

“Look at these polls, look at the job that lays ahead,” said CTV News Political Analyst Scott Reid in an interview with CTV News Channel. “It's going to require a magician to pull the Liberal rabbit out of this particular political hat.”

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According to new polling from Abacus Data on Sunday, the Conservatives lead the Liberals by 21 points – a trend that has continued for several months.

The polling also says negative impressions of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have increased over the past month, but more Canadians have a positive view of Poilievre compared to Trudeau or NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

With files from CTV’s Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos.