SOONER OR LATER — JUSTIN TRUDEAU keeps insisting he wants to win one more election. Reporters never seem to believe him. This is a prime minister swimming in baggage, tied or trailing in almost every poll since PIERRE POILIEVRE vaulted to opposition leader. Only two PMs have ever pulled off four wins in a row, and their faces both ended up on our money. Does Trudeau really think he has what it takes? Well, he capped a Thursday night convention speech to hyped-up Liberals with a decisive commitment to lead them once again into battle. He scored a decent ovation from a few thousand true believers. We might have to start believing he actually wants another kick at the can. — Solidarity, for now: Not a single delegate prancing around Ottawa's Shaw Centre told Playbook that Trudeau's time was up. Even the loose lips of the boozy reception circuit pledged allegiance to the leader. It's his time until it isn't. He's our guy. And hey, have you seen any drink tickets floating around? — But not forever: That's not to say the future wasn't peeking through the curtains. There was MÉLANIE JOLY's crowded basement reception with Young Liberals at Rabbit Hole on Sparks Street, an event attended by Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT. Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE was mobbed by fans following an onstage tete-a-tete with JEAN CHRÉTIEN. The Shawiniguy energy was strong in that room. Defense Minister ANITA ANAND road-tested a leadership stump speech delivered a midday keynote to a small crowd on the convention's final day. "Thanks to your tenacity, we will build a better future for Canadians," Anand told delegates. "And I can’t wait to see what that future holds." — Peculiar pinch hitter: Liberals seek validation from A-list Democrats in times of need, and that’s what HILLARY CLINTON delivered at the party’s convention on Friday night. She said she was there to talk about whatever was on Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND’s mind. If Freeland’s goal was to get Clinton’s endorsement of the Liberals’ positions on abortion rights, child care, Ukraine and Canada’s “amazing” PM, then it was a mission accomplished. “Cringeworthy,” chirped the Globe’s ANDREW COYNE. — Point-form takeaways: If there's an emerging consensus on who gets to lead the Liberal Party, it looks something like this. ✔ This is still Trudeau's party, and he's earned another campaign. ✔ Succession planning is smart, which is why future contenders are building support. ✔ Nobody is looking for a civil war. (Yet.) ✔ All bets are off when the next election ends. — Wildest unsubstantiated rumor making the rounds: Mississauga Mayor BONNIE CROMBIE plans to enter the Ontario Liberal leadership race. If she wins, Premier DOUG FORD would fear losing to her in 2026 and leave office before seeking a third term. That theory didn't impress many Ontarians roaming the convention hall. But Crombie did arrive in town Friday night, and she sat with interim provincial leader JOHN FRASER on the sunny Metropolitain patio on Saturday afternoon. The kind of place where people notice that sort of thing. — More free beer: Everybody knows that Liberal MPs NATHANIEL ERSKINE-SMITH and YASIR NAQVI will enter the provincial race. They're on the cusp of making it official. But only one of them shelled out for a Westin Hotel hospitality suite where bathtubs were filled with tallboys. The claustrophobic party eventually shifted to the hotel basement, where Erskine-Smith practiced his own leadership lines on the gathered crowd. — Unsung heroine: Convention-goers maxed out their WhatsApp social planning group chat at 1,024 members. They tipped their caps to fastidious group admin DIAMOND ISINGER, a former PMO Canada-U.S. specialist who now lives and works in Vancouver. — No prying eyes: Volunteers playing gatekeeper blocked the hallway to Room 214 in the Shaw Centre, where pesky reporters were barred from viewing sensitive strategy discussions — including how to win non-urban seats and close races. — Caffeine deficit: The convention ran out of coffee at midday on Saturday. GOOD IDEA/BAD IDEA — The Shaw Centre confab was less a policy convention than it was a personality convention with a dash of policy. Some resolutions caused a stir. → A motion to commit to balanced budgets failed. PIERRE POILIEVRE noticed. → A motion to establish a citizens' assembly on electoral reform passed. Green MP MIKE MORRICE called on the government to support his private members' motion on the same topic that has the maximum number of joint seconders — including Erskine-Smith, Naqvi and 10 other Liberal MPs. (Trudeau does not consider it a priority.) → Also passed? A motion that called on the government to "hold on-line information services accountable for the veracity of material published on their platforms and to limit publication only to material whose sources can be traced." PAUL WELLS was unenthused. Know someone who could use Ottawa Playbook? Direct them to this link. Five days a week, zero dollars.
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