Justin Trudeau has insisted that he will lead his Liberal party into the next election, dismissing a request by some party members to not run for a fourth term.

The Canadian prime minister met with his Liberal members of parliament for three hours on Wednesday, where he learned that more than 20 lawmakers from his party signed a letter asking him to step down before the next election.

On Thursday, Trudeau said there were “robust conversations” ongoing about the best way forward, but “that will happen as me as leader going into the next election”.

No Canadian prime minister in more than a century has won four straight terms.

Trudeau’s cabinet ministers have said he had the support of the vast majority of the 153 Liberal party members of the house of commons.

The Liberals recently suffered upsets in special elections for seats representing two districts in Toronto and Montreal that the party has held for years, raising doubts about Trudeau’s leadership.

The federal election could come anytime between this fall and next October. The Liberals must rely on the support of at least one major party in parliament, as they do not hold an outright majority themselves.

The leader of the opposition Bloc Québécois has said his party would work with the Conservatives and the New Democratic party (NDP) to bring down the Liberals and force an election if the government does not boost pensions.

Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, said pressure was building on Trudeau but that his unhappy lawmakers do not have much power to force him out.

“Trudeau holds all the cards. It is up to him if he wants to stay. The Liberal party revised its rules in 2016 so that the party leader is immune to any challenge to his leadership so long as he is prime minister,” said Wiseman.

Trudeau channeled the star power of his father in 2015 when he reasserted the country’s liberal identity after almost 10 years of Conservative party rule. But the son of the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau is now in trouble. Canadians have been frustrated by the rising cost of living and other issues including the country’s emergence from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Liberals trail the Conservatives by 38% to 25% in the latest Nanos poll. The poll of 1,037 respondents has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.