Liberal Party of Canada's national campaign director resigns

Photo: Adrian Wyld The Canadian Press Jeremy Broadhurst has been a Liberal staffer in one form or another for nearly 25 years. He was promoted to campaign manager in 2019.

Anja Karadeglija – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published September 5

• Canada

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suddenly finds himself without one of his longest-serving advisers, just as the threat of a snap election looms over Ottawa.

Jeremy Broadhurst resigned Thursday as the Liberal Party of Canada’s national campaign director, a day after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh ended the deal that supported the Liberals on key votes.

In a statement about his decision to resign, which was first reported by the Toronto Star, Broadhurst spoke of the toll that two decades and five national campaigns have taken on him and his family.

He says the upcoming federal election could be the most critical federal campaign of his life and that the party deserves a campaign director who can bring more energy and dedication to the work.

Mr. Broadhurst was a Liberal staffer in one form or another for nearly 25 years, serving at various times as chief of staff or advisor to several leaders and ministers.

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Mr. Broadhurst was national director of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2013 to 2015 and helped retool the Liberals' data machine. The operation helped them win the 2015 election.

He worked in the Prime Minister’s Office after the 2015 victory and was promoted to campaign manager in 2019.

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The next election is scheduled for the fall of 2025, but with the Liberal-NDP deal no longer in effect, there is a greater chance that Parliament will be dissolved before then.

The Liberals have been trailing the Conservatives in the polls for nearly a year and would lose the election if it were held now.

In his statement, Broadhurst also took aim at the Conservatives, saying Canadians will have to decide whether they want to elect a party that “is based on the assumption that Canadians are prepared to abandon their commitment to fairness, equality, justice and progress in favour of an agenda that is little more than slogans and dirty tricks.”

He added that Canadians will have to decide what kind of policies they want “before it is too late to stop at our border the kind of policies that stoke fear and seek to divide us.”

Broadhurst said he was “still committed to the Liberal Party of Canada and the Prime Minister,” but that it was “time to make way for others.”