After St. Paul's, is there anything Trudeau can say or do to save his leadership?

At some point before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet decided to finally abandon his promise of electoral reform, he had an idea.

He would tour the country to promote and explain the ranked ballot, his preferred option for reform. He said he believed that with enough time and effort, he could convince people of the logic and wisdom of what he was proposing.

He was ultimately convinced that there were other issues more in need of his attention and time. But years later, it's possible to see that same impulse — that same belief in his ability to make the case —� in the flurry of podcasts and interviews Trudeau has done in recent weeks. With his party staring at defeat in the next election, the prime minister has put himself out there — perhaps in the hope that, with enough time and effort, he can once again persuade enough voters that his party is still the right choice.

But in the wake of the Liberals' shock loss in a previously safe riding in Toronto, it's fair to ask if there's anything Trudeau could possibly say at this point that would get a hearing — or if too many Canadians have simply decided they're done listening to him.

Trudeau's stated theory about his current situation rests on a belief that voters will feel differently by the time the next election arrives, or that they'll change their minds when it comes time to make a real choice.

«Canadians are not in a decision mode right now,» he told CBC's during an interview last week. «What you tell a pollster — if they ever manage to reach you — is very different from the choice Canadians end up making in an election campaign.»

There's some logic to that argument, at least for an incumbent government. Every election is ultimately a choice, not merely a