i just want to be clear about what's happening, though.

the liberal party of canada was absolutely dead last to the party of neo-liberalism, and they fought it kicking and screaming the whole way. the neo-liberals were not truly ascendant in the party until 2003 - and they then promptly lost power to the conservatives, who just carried through with a lot of what the neo-liberal wing wanted to do, anyways. in the wake of defeat and abandonment for the conservatives, the neo-liberals actually lost power again from 2006 to 2008. michael ignatieff was not able to win an election, but he was able to more firmly cement the neo-liberal wing before he lost his own seat in the 2011 election. having never really done anything of any importance in life, it wasn't really clear where trudeau stood; there were plenty of signs that he was firmly on the neo-liberal wing of the party, but just as many that he represented a kind of synthesis of neo-liberalism with social liberalism, and the latter is probably closer to the truth. since he won the election, however, the neo-liberal wing has both been in firm control and taken steps to remove the social liberal wing from power. at this point, the socially liberal wing is mostly aging and largely out of the loop.

given that it took forty years for the neo-liberals to take over the party, and the generation that is coming into power has consequently spent their entire lives fighting social liberals for control, it is easy to understand why they might be a little resistant to react to events on the ground. the reality is that the liberal party of canada is stuck in the 80s. it is only now, in 2017, seeing the world with a reaganite vision. and, it doesn't want to hear that history has come back - not now that they've finally done away with it.

somehow, this needs to be smashed. the party has to realize that it's been doing the wrong thing all of these years. but, it's easier stated than accomplished.