OTTAWA—Liberal strategists gathered at a downtown Ottawa hotel in mid-July, the inner circle who will steer the party’s re-election hopes.Among the 50 or so present were veterans of the party’s dramatic win in 2015 — “getting the band back together,” quipped one participant — as well as new faces. The group, which included regional representatives, talked about the current state of politics, the mood on the ground, digital strategies and how they saw the campaign playing out.Jeremy Broadhurst, the party’s campaign director, describes the discussion as “let’s all talk about some of these challenges, the difference of 2015 to 2019, the advances in the art and science of campaigning.“It was a good chance to challenge some of our assumptions — let’s challenge our common wisdom,” he said in an interview.Justin Trudeau spoke to the assembled crowd, touting the government’s accomplishments but underscoring that the job is not done, themes he would touch on when he spoke to Liberal candidates who gathered in Ottawa several weeks later.In the session, which stretched over a couple of days, there was a recognition that it wasn’t enough to simply replicate the formula from four years ago. The political rivals are different. The domestic and international scenes are different. And critically, the Liberals are no longer the third-place party. They’ve been in government in four years, with a record, good and bad.The Star has talked with more than a dozen Liberal strategists about the coming campaign. They paint a picture of a party that is optimistic, that had been getting the wind back in its sails after a bruising start to the year. They are cognizant of polls that indicate a close race with the Conservatives. They remain wary about several factors: economic anxiety, populist politics and shifting moods. Yet they saw the potential for gains, notably in Quebec, perhaps Ontar ...
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