A Primer on the Candidates for Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
With the details of the Liberal Party of Canada’s leadership race now announced (learn more here) and the deadline to declare as a candidate quickly approaching, we will start to see a flurry of activity both in terms of potential candidates declining and others officially launching their bids.
Here’s your primer on who is out and who is in so far that I will keep updated until the deadline on January 23, 2025.
Likely Frontrunners
Mark Carney
Biographical Information:
- 59 years old
- Born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories
- Holds Canadian, Irish, and British Citizenship
- Speaks fluent French
Experience Highlights:
- 8th governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013
- 120th governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020
- Finance advisor to the UK government during the UK presidency of the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference
- Economic advisor at Goldman Sachs for 13 years
Likely Sales Pitch
Carney’s campaign will likely focus on economic stability. He is often credited for pulling Canada out of the Great Recession as the Governor of the Bank of Canada. If I were his campaign team, I would position him as someone who saw the Harper-Polievre fiscal approach and the disaster of Brexit up close. Therefore, he understands that the only way to stop right-wing economic mismanagement is to enter the ring and defeat the populist conservatives like Poilievre that usher it in.
Chrystia Freeland
Biographical Information:
- 56 years old
- Born in Peace River, Alberta
- Speaks French, Ukrainian, Russian, and Italian
Experience Highlights:
- Former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
- Former Minister of Finance, Foreign Affairs, International Trade, and Intergovernmental Affairs
- Toronto MP since 2013 and won re-election in 2015, 2019, and 2021
- Former journalist for the Globe and Mail, Reuters, Financial Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist
- Published author and National Business Book Award winner
Likely Sales Pitch
Freeland’s pitch will likely also focus on economic matters but use her political experience both at the polls and in going toe-to-toe with Donald Trump to contrast her candidacy to Carney’s. She will likely try to claim ownership of the progress made during the Trudeau years while using her dramatic resignation to distance herself from the man himself.
Karina Gould
Biographical Information:
- 37 years old
- From Burlington, Ontario
- Speaks French, Spanish, and German
Experience Highlights:
- Government House Leader
- Former Minister of Democratic Institutions, International Development, and Families, Children and Social Development
- Burlington MP since 2015, re-elected in 2019 and 2021
- Former Investment Specialist for the Mexican Trade Commission “ProMexico”
Likely Sales Pitch
Gould has also served as a Minister in Trudeau’s cabinet but each of her ministry files has focused on strengthening the social bonds between people. Her sales pitch will likely be three-fold, focusing on the generational change she brings as a younger candidate, doubling down on a progressive approach to governance, and focusing on the everyday needs of average families. This will put her in stark contrast to Carney, Clark, and Freeland, who are all older than Justin Trudeau and who are all considered to be further to the right on the political spectrum. It will also contrast her to Carney and Freeland, who are seen as public intellectuals rather than retail politicians.
Also Declared
Some candidates raised their hands before the rules were even released. This group of candidates includes:
- Chandra Arya, MP for Nepean
- Frank Baylis, Former MP for Pierrefonds-Dollard
Declined to Run for Leader
Several high-profile candidates have opted not to throw their hats in the ring. Click on each candidate for a link to their statement.
- Anita Anand
- François-Philippe Champagne
- Christy Clark
- Melanie Joly
- Brian Gallant
- Dominic LeBlanc
- Steven MacKinnon
- Nate Erskine-Smith
- Jonathan Wilkinson
Remember, the deadline to declare as a candidate is January 23, 2025. That gives candidates just two weeks to make this potentially life-changing decision. After the 23rd, we will have a final list of those who are eligible to participate in this race.
Theresa has served as the Communications Coordinator for the Ontario Liberal Party, the VP Communications for the Ontario Women’s Liberal Commission, the Director of Communications to Ontario Deputy Premier Deb Matthews, and an election-speechwriter for former Premier Kathleen Wynne. As a member of ‘Team Neutral’, she helped manage the 2013 and 2020 OLP Leadership races.
