The hopes of an anxious Liberal caucus were first raised at the end of the summer of 2022 in the resort town of St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick.
Liberals had gathered that August for the first in-person retreat after the pandemic to confront a series of polls that found them trailing the leaderless Conservatives by a few points.
In September of that year, the Conservatives would find their leader, Pierre Poilievre. Now, two years later, the anxiety of 2022 has turned to the panic of 2024 with multiple polls showing the Liberals 20 points behind and facing an absolute rout if an election were held this fall.
Many Liberal MPs who once thought they might survive on their own popularity are now facing the reality that they will lose their jobs because of the unpopularity of the same leader who helped them win back in 2015.
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Liberal MPs were told at that …