OTTAWA | That’s it, the two star candidates in the Liberal Party of Canada leadership race have officially launched their campaigns.
First observation: life without the unloved Justin Trudeau will not be smooth sailing for liberal activists.
Both Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney had shaky and chaotic beginnings.
They have in turn learned the hard way that the bar is high, that they have no room for error and that they will be pressed for time to adjust and gain ground.
Getting rid of Justin Trudeau for the chance to take his place was probably the easy part.
Brilliant blow
Chrystia Freeland officially launched into the race yesterday, in an event that seemed to be settled like clockwork.
A packed room, touching testimonies from his children, a launch from an experienced politician.
Above all, an energy that Mark Carney sorely lacked.
Then came the pro-Palestinian protesters, who derailed his plan and exposed huge security breaches.
One of them even came within a few centimeters of her, which provoked the intervention of Quebec MP Stéphane Lauzon.
The demonstrators were so numerous that after their outburst, the room was sparse.
The deputies who supported her and the activists behind her quickly lost their smile.
-Another speed?
Mark Carney did not stumble, but he did not particularly inspire, with a soporific speech last Friday, among other things because of a problem with the teleprompter.
That’s the challenge of this race: finding a way to go in a few weeks.
Carney and Freeland will have to quickly find another gear, otherwise many liberal activists will end up saying to themselves: all that for that?
And they haven’t finished being pushed around.
Poilievre questions
We can expect that, in the coming days, Donald Trump will force everyone on this side of the border to find the right tone in the face of his threats.
We already know that Chrystia Freeland wants to pose as the one who is afraid of nothing, ready to do battle with Trump with equivalent tariff retaliations.
We sense Pierre Poilievre more hesitant on the issue, a good part of whose supporter base unfortunately admires the president.
He will also have to find another slogan with the departure of Justin Trudeau, since the next Liberal leader will get rid of the carbon tax as we know it.
Poilievre perhaps feels reassured by seeing the difficulties of the two main Liberal candidates, he who has learned in the last two years how to raise a room.
But liberals are not the only ones who have a task of introspection ahead of them.
