As some Liberals jump out of their party’s leadership race, others look to jump in.
On Tuesday, Christy Clark the former premier of British Columbia, announced she would not be running to replace Justin Trudeau as party leader and prime minister. She thanked her team for coming together so quickly but said her lack of French would make a successful campaign impossible.
Clark was widely seen to be one of the serious contenders – along with Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney – until her disastrous interview with CBC last week where she denied ever joining the federal Conservative Party. After the announcement, her team stressed the incident played no role in the decision, and it really came down to her inability to speak French.
François-Philippe Champagne also announced on Tuesday that he would not be jumping in. Champagne made the announcement before a business crowd lunch at the Canadian Club in Toronto.
“I thought about it carefully. I came to the conclusion that I will not be seeking the leadership in this race. It was probably the most difficult decision in my life, but I think it is the right one at this time,” he said.
Champagne joins other members of the Trudeau cabinet such as Melanie Joly, Domenic LeBlanc and Steve MacKinnon who have expressed an interest and then bowed out. Could it be that there is pressure coming from Trudeau for his top ministers to stay out of the way in favour of Trudeau’s preferred candidate Mark Carney?
If that’s the case, then what about Karina Gould who expressed an interest in running?
Gould is one of Trudeau’s favoured ministers, well-liked by the PMO and surely wouldn’t defy the clear message coming out for people to back Carney. This is why there is chatter among Liberals about Gould possibly being a stalking horse candidate to draw votes away from Chrystia Freeland’s campaign to help Carney win.
While Gould has held a number of portfolios in the government, she isn’t a heavy hitter within the party on par with either Freeland or Carney.
There are a number of backbenchers also talking about looking at running such as Nova Scotia’s Jaime Battiste and Ottawa’s Chandra Arya, but breaking through in this race will be difficult for either one of them.
One person looking at launching a campaign is a former insider who, unlike Carney, has definitely spent the last several years on the outside – Ruby Dhalla.
Dhalla was a Liberal MP from 2004 until 2011 representing the Brampton area. After leaving politics in 2011, she’s spent the last several years running her family business focused on the health and hospitality industries.
The former MP is currently making calls to gauge support from donors and campaign workers.
All candidates who want to run need to express their intention by Jan. 23 and make a refundable $50,000 deposit to be considered a candidate. After that, payments are required on Jan. 30, Feb. 7 and Feb. 17 by which point the total entrance fee of $350,000 must be paid.
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Voting will take place via a preferential ballot system with the winner being announced on March 9.
That’s an incredibly short time frame to raise $350,000 – the equivalent of 200 donors at the maximum allowable donation of $1,750. It’s also a short time frame to introduce yourself to party members – or registered Liberals as they call them now – and convince them to vote for you.
This is made all the more difficult with so many people at the core of the party, those who surround Trudeau, clearly coming out and supporting Carney in an attempted coronation.
Carney is set to officially launch on Thursday, Freeland on Friday, and by next week we will know if anyone else will risk getting in the middle of the knife fight that is about to break out between the two front runners.