OTTAWA — Liberal MP Sean Casey said he was still hopeful until last week that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would decide to step down and trigger a leadership race, but that has not happened, and Casey felt he owed it to his constituents to speak out.

Casey, the MP for Charlottetown, became the first Liberal MP on Tuesday to publicly say he wants Trudeau’s resignation since news broke this past weekend that some members of the party’s caucus have been organizing behind the scenes to collect signatures and force the leader to step down.