The clock could be ticking on prime minister Justin Trudeau's time as leader of the Liberals as he faces mounting pressure to step aside from within his own caucus.
A number of backbench MPs are expected to formally ask the prime minister this week to consider the future of the Liberal party in making a decision about whether to stay at the helm.
CTV News is reporting that a group of those MPs broke off into what was described as a "secret" caucus last week. It was during this meeting talk of something more formal developed.
University of Windsor political science professor Lydia Miljan says this is the most significant threat to Trudeau's leadership yet.
"I think there's a natural end to any government, but there's also a natural to any leader's reign and it seems that there is a building consensus that it's time for Mr. Trudeau to take his proverbial walk in the snow."
She says she isn't sure how Trudeau can withstand the pressure of a challenge like this.
"Something's gotta happen. Either we have to have an election because right now Parliament is at a stand still because they refuse to release documents that were required under parliamentary privilege. There's no debate going on right now, there's no bills being passed, and equally you have this disintegration within his own party ranks, it doesn't sound like he even has the confidence of his own caucus, so I think we need to watch this space and see what's going happen over the next few weeks."
Miljan says she's not sure Trudeau can win back the confidence of his party.
"It is difficult. They've seen their electoral fortunes decline quite significantly. I think everybody knows they're going to lose the next election, it is just a matter of who's going to be gone and I think that the MPs are saying 'well I don't want to be the one going and the only thing I can see changing that is if we change somebody at the top'."
On Sunday, the Liberal Party named Andrew Bevan as its new national campaign director for the next federal election.
Bevan has most recently served as the chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
He also served as Chief of Staff and Principal Secretary to former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne from 2013 to 2018, and was a senior advisor to Wynne through two provincial elections.
Back in early September, former campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst announced he would be stepping down for personal reasons.
-With files from CTV News
