What we know about the upcoming leadership race in the Liberal Party of Canada

By announcing his resignation on Monday, Justin Trudeau clarified that he will remain at the head of the Liberal Party of Canada and the government while his party chooses the person who will succeed him. What do we know about this upcoming leadership race?

The leadership race must Normally take a minimum of four months, according to party officials. But with the planned return of Parliament on March 24, after the extension granted on January 6, the race will visibly take place over a shorter period.

A few rules in the party Constitution will likely need to be changed to speed up the process. Liberal Party of Canada President Sachit Mehra announced Monday that he will convene a meeting of the National Council this week to launch the pan-Canadian democratic process of selecting a new party leader.

Who could succeed Justin Trudeau?

Even if no liberal personality has openly announced their candidacy, several names are already circulating within the party and in the media.

According to a Spark Advocacy survey carried out between December 21 and 23 among 2,500 people in Canada, former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland would be the best candidate to lead the Liberal Party according to 23% of respondents. Former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney would be the choice of 17% of participants, while 13% of respondents would opt for the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly.

Among Liberal voters who responded to this survey, Chrystia Freeland comes first, with 26%, Mark Carney is in second place with 18% and Mélanie Joly is third, at 11%.

Other potential leadership candidates garnering between 8 and 10% support: current federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, former British Columbia Premier Chrystia Clark, federal Industry Minister , François-Philippe Champagne, or the federal Minister of Transport, Anita Anand.

Another potential candidacy mentioned so far: that of Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources.

Several ministers thanked Justin Trudeau after his announcement on Monday, but none of them commented on the upcoming race.

In a very short message on wished him and his family the best.

For his part, Mark Carney, who had been approached to replace Ms. Freeeland in Finance, wrote soberly on X: Thank you, Prime Minister, for your leadership, your many contributions to Canada and the sacrifices you and your family have made in the name of public service. We wish you the best in your next chapters.

Before the announcement of Mr. Trudeau’s resignation, Mr. Carney was active in making multiple calls to assess his support within the party.

Mr. Carney also reportedly received dozens of phone calls from MPs and political organizers who expressed interest in him running in a potential leadership race.

For her part, Christy Clark implied that she would enter the race in a message on X: As a lifelong Liberal, I look forward to joining the tens of thousands of Canadians who will be called upon to choose our next leader. This is the greatest opportunity in more than a decade to grow the party and welcome new Liberals who share our concerns about the future of the country. This is an opportunity not to be missed.

15:48

What will the rules of the race be?

According to the Constitution of PLCthe president must convene the National Council within 27 days after announcing a resignation from party leadership. It is this same National Council which sets the voting date for the election of a leader. He must also set up the Campaign Expenditures Committee.

To be eligible, the candidate must be a registered liberal, be in the House of Commons under the Canada Elections Act and he must submit a nomination document to the party president at least 90 days before election day.

This document must be signed by 300 registered Liberals, including at least 100 registered Liberals from three different provinces or territories.

In an interview with Patrice Roy at ICI RDI, Eddie Goldenberg, former political advisor to Jean Chrétien, also raised the possibility that the leadership vote would be reserved for the Liberal caucus. He pointed out that such a practice exists in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

I think the constitution [du Parti libéral du Canada] provides flexibility where the national executive would have the power to ask the caucus to choose the new leader. And that could happen quicklyhe explained.

To have a more participatory vote, the National Council could, for example, allow each president of a liberal constituency association to vote, suggested Mr. Goldenberg, which would allow some 500 members to vote.

This would allow us to have a new prime minister at the end of January or the beginning of February, according to Mr. Goldenberg, and it would give this new head of government six to eight weeks to show what he can do before Parliament resumes. I think the new prime minister should have as much time as possible to show that he or she is different from his predecessorpleaded Eddie Goldenberg.