What comes next?

No, I'm not running for leader. Yes, I have thoughts on the Prime Minister's announcement, what prorogation means, and the opportunity for renewal and a campaign of ideas.

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister announced that he won’t be the leader heading into the next election.

Now, I haven’t always seen eye to eye with him over the years, but Justin Trudeau loves this country, he’s deeply committed to public service and a progressive politics driven by fairness and sustainability, and I wouldn’t be in politics but for his call a decade ago to do things differently.

He described himself as a fighter in announcing his decision to stay on as Prime Minister while a new leader is selected by the Liberal Party.

For my part, I thought he was a class act in his short remarks, especially given how hard it must have been to give up the ball. Few true aces give up the ball without a fight. And he still believes he has so much fight left.

Of course, it’s not enough to be a fighter. A leader’s only as good as their team, and a messenger needs an audience that’s at least open to listening.

And for months we’ve inadvertently given Poilievre’s reform party politics a free pass when every question is palace intrigue on our end.

We needed certainty one way or the other.

And now we have it.

Prorogation isn’t exactly a word we hear every day. So let’s be clear about what it is and what it isn’t.

This is not some undemocratic shutdown of the country. This isn’t a caretaker situation. Our government will continue to govern the entire time.

I’m the Housing Minister, for example, with three months to get some important work done on social housing, encampments, and working with councils and provinces that agree to remove barriers to build.

There is absolutely nothing that stops that work.

A prorogation simply means a parliamentary reset. All legislative work comes to an end and the legislative agenda is reset when we come back.

In this case, the Governor General granted the Prime Minister’s request for a prorogation until March 24.

It sounds longer than it is, because no Parliament sits every week. In Ontario, for example, after a parliamentary break from early June to mid-October, the legislature rose again in early December til early March. For really no good reason.

In contrast, this full reset will cost us a net loss of 4 weeks that Parliament would have otherwise sat between now and the end of March.

Given the current state of our parliamentary dysfunction, as this minority parliament veers into an election, almost all legislation has been stalled since early fall anyway. So losing 4 weeks of parliamentary sitting and resetting the legislative table isn’t exactly a real blow.

Instead, the time will ensure the government continues to deliver within existing authorities, that we have as much stability as possible heading into President Trump’s inauguration, and that we’ll have a shortened window to select a new leader to face off against the unserious duo of Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh.

To give Canadians a real choice.

The Liberal Party has an opportunity to embrace renewal and change. And Canadians and Liberal members can shape what that change looks like.

What approach do we want from our leaders? What ideas do we want to see championed? What kind of country do we want to live in?

There are already any number of potential leaders organizing for what will be a short race that should end in March.

I’m not on that list of potential leaders, by the way. But I do have some thoughts.

First, I am incredibly concerned by just how unserious our politics is becoming.

Poilievre and Singh offer anger, sure. And there’s a lot to be angry about at times.

But to the extent that that empathy is anything other than contrived, it should come with more than slogans for solutions.

We face an incredible challenge in President Trump, a housing crisis that has upended for an entire generation that core value of equality of opportunity, and global conflict and climate change that require collective action and leadership on the world stage.

In response? Poilievre, riding high in the polls, releases an amateur-hour video of personal attacks against Liberal Ministers, and calls Trudeau an authoritarian socialist, because what - we introduced childcare and carbon pricing? Canada’s history is one of social democracy, and the would-be Prime Minister doesn’t believe in basic social programs.

As far as approach goes, competence is an underrated value in politics and a serious and thoughtful politics would stand in stark contrast to what stands across the aisle.

To follow through on that approach requires a campaign of ideas. Yes, sure, some people will give out marks for being a good Liberal, whatever that means.

But the answer, the same as it has always been, is participation.

To win, we need people to see themselves in our next leader and party.

To be compelled and excited to participate.

For Canadians rightly angry about the cost of housing, the next leader needs to be seized with that frustration, empathetic to it, and deliver a comprehensive and more ambitious plan to address it.

Acknowledge imperfection in our efforts, be honest that nothing will be fixed overnight and clear that population growth and housing supply go hand in hand, emphasize the progress we’ve made in restoring the federal role because there has been significant progress, and protect and build on that progress, by matching the ambition this country had on housing, including social housing, until the 1980s.

For the 6 million Canadians who don’t have a family doctor, tell us that healthcare is a priority and how the next Liberal government will do everything in its spending power to tackle that most basic of needs.

Don’t walk away from commitments to sustainability and climate action, at a bare minimum. Build on those efforts. And hey, maybe revisit electoral reform?

Tell us what you’re going to do about the fact this is a country of oligopolies and the lack of competition across sectors comes at the expense of consumer protections and our pocket books. What’s the direction we should expect your government to take to address productivity?

Tell us what you think about fairness and how the government should address wealth inequality and help those in the greatest need. How you’ll match progressive policy action with fiscal discipline so that that progress is sustainable and lasting.

Yes, we need robust measures in place to address any prospect of foreign interference. But that doesn’t mean you can avoid having clearly defined views about Canada’s role on the world stage today.

I’m not asking for a detailed platform. I am asking for more than slogans. Don’t play it safe. Style AND substance would be nice.

Beyond ideas, we need a relentless focus on grassroots engagement. I ran in an open nomination a decade ago because of a commitment to more independence and a bottom-up approach to our politics.

What kind of party do you want to build and where do you think power should reside?

It’ll be a short race. But that doesn’t mean it should be short on ideas.

It’s not going to be enough to ask people to vote against Conservatives. What direction do we all want for our country?

Let’s give Canadians a positive reason to vote for us again.