Liberals put up united front at caucus retreat after fractious summer

Liberal MPs will have one last chance to tell their leader how they think their party can improve their political prospects before they return to Ottawa to face off against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the House of Commons.

The three-day retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., was the first chance for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s team to address him as a group since they lost a long-held Liberal riding in Toronto to Poilievre’s Conservatives.

The loss led to a fractious summer, and the focus of the gathering has been to reunite the party and turn their focus to the Tories.

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Despite grumblings before the retreat, Liberals who spoke publicly on the sidelines of the meetings have, so far, expressed positivity about their approach to the coming election year.

The prime minister is expected to answer questions about the closed-door meetings on Wednesday before the MPs disband.

They will reconvene in Ottawa Monday for the start of the fall sitting when they will immediately face their next test: a strongly contested byelection in another long-held Liberal riding.