Removing a head of government, chosen by the people in a general election, should be a difficult thing in a democracy. The defenestration of President Joe Biden over the summer likely taught some wrong lessons in that regard.

The federal Liberal caucus has discovered that difficulty over the past few months, culminating in a meeting this week that was a bit of a damp squib. Perhaps in the new age of the new Trudeau, the Liberals do not remember their own history. Paul Martin’s millennial ambition to dethrone Jean Chrétien was a multi-year effort involving a massive amount of clandestine manoeuvring, not a plaintive letter with fewer than two dozen signatories.