Liberal MP says her constituents are 'very adamant' Justin Trudeau needs to go
CBC
Quebec Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes said Monday she's heard from "dozens and dozens" of constituents over the summer telling her it's time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step aside after nearly nine years at the top.
Speaking to Radio-Canada, CBC's French-language service, on the sidelines of the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., Mendes said her constituents are "very adamant the prime minister needs to go."
She said while she's personally fine with Trudeau staying on as prime minister, "my constituents do not see Mr. Trudeau as the person who should lead the party into the next election, and that's the message that I carry."
"I didn't hear it from two, three people. I heard it from dozens and dozens of people," Mendes said. "He's no longer the right leader."
Mendes is one of a small number of Liberal MPs who have been willing to speak out publicly about ongoing dissatisfaction with Trudeau and his leadership.
Asked if she thinks the party would be better off with Trudeau gone, Mendes said: "Yes, that's what I would deduct from all the comments that I heard.
"It's not the Liberal Party per se that is the cause. It's really the leadership of the prime minister."
She said it "saddens" her to hear the anti-Trudeau sentiment.
"It saddens me that the prime minister isn't being given the credit he deserves for the many, many wonderful things he did, or very good transformative things he did for Canada," she said. "But, on the other hand, if I listen to my constituents, which is supposedly what we're meant to do, yes, I have to say we would have to change leadership."
If Trudeau isn't willing to go, Mendes said, the party needs to get better at communicating what she describes as its many successes.
She said many Canadians simply don't know about the government's accomplishments over the past nine years.
Mendes said she will make her constituents' position known to the prime minister when she and other MPs come face to face with him and the cabinet tomorrow for the first Liberal caucus meeting in months.
Some MPs were calling for such a meeting weeks earlier, but the party's caucus chair Brenda Shanahan said it wasn't possible because of "scheduling logistics."
Mendes said she's expecting other MPs to raise similar concerns after a tumultuous summer that saw the party lose a byelection in Toronto-St. Paul's — a one-time Liberal stronghold the party had held for more than 30 years before Conservative candidate Don Stewart won it in June. Some Toronto voters said they saw the byelection as a referendum on Trudeau.

Toronto cop gets suspended sentence, probation for assault over fake watch sale where man later died
An off-duty Toronto police officer has received a suspended sentence and a year of probation after being found guilty of assault for forcing a Brampton man to the ground in 2021 over a fake Apple watch in a Kijiji deal gone bad.

Abuse of referees in amateur sport has been an issue for decades and all sorts of attempts have been made to curb the problem, from sternly worded signs that remind fans to be respectful to green armbands that identify novice officials to body-worn cameras that record footage from the refs' perspectives.

After Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump met one-on-one for 30 minutes on Monday morning, but before their respective teams joined to continue the discussion, the two leaders invited reporters and television cameras into a meeting room in Kananaskis, Alta. to witness them exchanging formal pleasantries.