Several close associates of Canada's resigned prime minister are candidates for the prime ministerial position.
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Ottawa (UrduPoint News - 07 January 2025) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Governor General has accepted his request to suspend Parliament, after which all proceedings, including the impeachment motion, will be suspended, but Parliament will not be dissolved. The extension will be in effect until March 24, during which the ruling Liberal Party will choose its new leader. This process takes four months.
The Liberal Party president says a nationwide democratic process will be used to elect a new leader, but he did not provide further details in this regard. Federal leaders in Canada are elected during party conventions, in which party members vote to choose the leader, but even after Parliament resumes work on March 24, the newly elected Liberal leader may not be able to hold power for long.
The Conservative Party has a double-digit lead in opinion polls and has been trying for months to force a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons to force an election. Canada's parliament is due to end in October and new elections are expected to be held in October. The Conservative Party is expected to bring another no-confidence motion in March. If a government loses a confidence vote or vote in the House, it is expected to resign or dissolve Parliament, triggering a federal election.
One of the strongest contenders to replace Justin Trudeau is former deputy prime minister and Toronto MP Chrystia Freeland. Although she has long been seen as a trusted senior official in Canadian political circles, differences with the Prime Minister's Office led to her recent and abrupt resignation in December. It is believed that her criticism of the Canadian prime minister in her publicly shared resignation letter increased the pressure on Trudeau and made her resignation inevitable.
Chrystia Freeland was born in the western province of Alberta to a Ukrainian mother and was a journalist before entering politics. She entered the House of Commons in 2013 and joined Trudeau's cabinet two years later with a trade brief. As foreign minister, she helped Canada renegotiate free trade agreements with the United States and Mexico. She was later named deputy prime minister and finance minister, the first woman to hold the position.
In resigning last month, she criticized Trudeau for not taking a tougher stance against Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods. She has consistently supported Ukraine, which some have praised, but the Harvard-educated MP has also faced criticism, with Trump recently calling her "toxic."
After Chrystia, banker Mark Carney is considered a strong candidate for prime minister. Trudeau admitted that he had wanted to add Mark Carney to his team for a long time. During a NATO conference in July 2024, he said that Carney would be a great addition, especially at a time when Canada needs good people in politics. Carney, 59, who has been working as an advisor to Trudeau in recent months, is considered a strong candidate for the country's prime minister. Carney, who studied at Harvard, has never held any government office, but his economic experience is impressive. He has been the head of the central banks of Canada and Britain. He also has expertise on environmental issues and is serving as the United Nations' special envoy for climate action. Carney supports some liberal policies, such as a federal carbon tax policy, which is designed to protect the environment but is considered a fiscal burden on the public by conservative circles.
In addition to Mark Carney, Anita Anand is considered one of the Liberal Party leaders who could be candidates for prime minister. The 57-year-old lawyer entered politics in 2019, having been elected from Oakville, near Toronto. Anand, who studied at Oxford, specializes in financial law and corporate governance. She was made Minister of Public Services and Procurement. In 2021, she became Minister of Defence, overseeing issues such as providing aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia and addressing sexual harassment issues in the Canadian military. She was later given the position of overseeing the Treasury Board, which some saw as her demotion. In a cabinet reshuffle in December, she was made Minister of Transport and Internal Trade.
Entrepreneur and international trade expert François-Philippe Champagne is also a Liberal minister who is considered a good candidate for the party leadership. Champagne, 54, came to parliament in 2015 and then became Minister of International Trade, Foreign Affairs and most recently Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. Champagne is from Quebec, a key province in Canada's federal elections. He tries to sell Canadian products around the world through his innovation or innovation work. Political analysts consider him a good candidate because of his business acumen.
Like Trudeau, Jolie represents the Montreal region. Jolie, 45, is a familiar face to foreign leaders and has been representing Canada on the world stage since 2021. As foreign minister, she has made several visits to Ukraine to show Canada’s support. She traveled to Jordan during the Israel-Hamas war to help evacuate Canadian citizens. Jolie has been involved in several key foreign policy issues for the government, such as the crisis triggered by the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada by alleged Indian agents. An Oxford-educated lawyer, Jolie is a prominent politician and previously ran for mayor of Montreal.
LeBlanc, 57, is also a close and trusted ally of Trudeau. Their friendship goes back a long way, and LeBlanc also cared for Trudeau and his siblings as children. He has served in key positions during difficult times, such as taking over as finance minister within hours of Freeland's resignation. LeBlanc also traveled to Mar-a-Lago with Trudeau in November and met with Trump. LeBlanc has been a member of parliament since 2000 and represents a riding in New Brunswick. Like Trudeau, LeBlanc comes from a political family. His father served as a minister in Pierre Trudeau's government and later became Governor General of Canada. LeBlanc ran for the party leadership in 2008 but lost. He was not part of the race when Trudeau later became party leader. Christy Clark is a former premier of British Columbia and has expressed interest in leading the Liberal Party. In a statement in October, she said that if Trudeau resigns, she would like to be part of the discussion on the future of the Liberal Party and the country. The 59-year-old was premier of British Columbia from 2011 to 2017, where she balanced the environment and the energy industry.
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