Trudeau bloodied but unbowed

It was quite the week for Justin Trudeau.

The Prime Minister stared down members of his caucus who want him out as leader and, so far anyway, it seems the mutiny has fizzled. The next day he announced a major reversal on immigration policy. Heading into the weekend, it seemed that the channel has been successfully changed.

Two key aspects of his communications strategy were intriguing.

First, he opted to take the "nothing to see here, folks" approach of saying little to nothing about the behind-closed-doors revolt. "The Liberal Party is strong and united," was all he had to say coming out of the caucus room.

That's a commonly recommended strategy for anyone with a negative story dogging them in the media: don't give it any more oxygen. Don't add anything to make the story bigger. Move on and hope it dies out.

Usually, that's the best approach amid a bad situation. But this was a crisis of leadership - and, I would argue, a time for a leader to show their mettle. Knives are being wielded in the shadows, largely by those not willing to make their names known. Their petition said Trudeau's continuing leadership was an "existential crisis" for the Liberal Party. This wasn't just a few gripes from the usual whiners.

Which is why I would have counseled Trudeau to stand in the fire. This elephant wasn't just in the room; it was laying on the sofa with the remote in hand, scarfing down all the snacks. If ever there was a time to grab it by the tusks, this was it. Trudeau could have taken on reporters' questions and used them as platforms to fire back in no uncertain terms to his doubters. It was a missed opportunity to show the "fire the in belly" many have been complaining he lacks, and to recast himself from out of touch and blinded by hubris, to the damn the torpedoes captain of his ship, no ifs ands or buts. I think he would have turned a lot of heads.

But that would require a willingness to talk about personal unpopularity, something that is anathema to this PM. So he whistled his way past the graveyard - and so far, seems to have skated.

The second interesting strategy was Trudeau's fronting of an announcement the next day, declaring that his government "didn't quite get the balance quite right" when it came to immigration numbers vis a vis pressures on housing and health care. It's a major reversal, and as close to a mea culpa as Trudeau tends to come.

But it goes a long way toward addressing the political liability this issue has become, with polls now showing for the first time ever that a national majority of Canadians think our immigration levels are too high, given all the other pressures at play.

It demonstrates a willingness to revisit key policy positions - and it mitigates the impact the Conservatives can have, politically.

Hmmmm ... might this be a test-run for another major strategic shift on a different key file: the carbon tax? Stay tuned.