Following the Liberals’ embarrassing defeat in Toronto—St. Paul’s, Canadian politics has been consumed with a single question: should the party dump the wildly unpopular prime minister in favour of a leader who has a hope in a Winnipeg winter of holding onto government?

For Liberals and their supporters, who imagine the Conservatives are barbarians at the gates ready to smash civilization to pieces, it’s easy to see why that option could be alluring. Whatever the fortunes of the Liberal party generally, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is particularly reviled. So, it would seem some partisans believe, the public would snap out of its dalliances with Pierre Poilievre’s Tories and embrace a new leader if only it were presented with one.