'You've got to feed the change beast': Experts look ahead to Liberal caucus retreat

With the federal Liberals set to meet for their annual caucus retreat this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the party, need to be clear about their policy direction and open to change, according to two experts and an MP.

With the federal Liberals set to meet for their annual caucus retreat this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — and the party — need to be clear about their policy direction and open to change, according to two experts and an MP.

The group's pre-Parliament strategy meeting comes amid fallout from the end of the Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence agreement, which NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced this week he had "ripped up" after more than two and a half years.

The gathering — set to take place in Nanaimo, B.C., during the first half of this week — is meant to give the governing Liberals the opportunity to map strategy heading into the fall sitting, which starts Sept. 16.

And for the first time in years, the government will no longer be propped up by the NDP.

"What happens in caucus, stays in caucus," Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz said in an interview with CTV News. "But I will say to you, I don't think I'm the only person that's saying we have to articulate a very clear vision that Canadians need to understand, and know, as we are preparing for the next election."

"I'm hoping that we have a year, but it could be sooner, and the sooner we get going on articulating that vision, the better," she added.

Heading into the caucus retreat at this time last year, the party was reckoning with several consecutive months of soaring polling numbers for Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives, while the Liberals languished. And they have yet to turn the tide and narrow the gap with Poilievre since.