
The Liberal Leadership Follies: PART DEUX “A Cast of Characters in Search of a Plot”
The old adage, “A week is a long time in politics,” has never felt truer. In my previous exposé, The Liberal Leadership Contest Goes From the Race for the Rose to the Turd Blossom, I dissected how the Liberal leadership race devolved into something straight out of a reality TV dumpster fire. Meanwhile, Canada limps along without a sitting parliament and a lame-dick, aimless Prime Minister who couldn’t grab anyone’s attention if his life depended on it. This situation adds insult to injury, as US President Donald Trump—ever the wrecking ball—is body-slamming Canada daily as our Premiers bicker over how to respond to his raging rants of rhetorical ridiculousness. And the Liberal caucus? A flock of sheep, bleating their approval of this slow-motion train wreck, all in the name of their own self-preservation. Bravo, team Liberal Party of Canada. Bravo.
As the Liberal leadership race unfolds, the plot thickens, and the candidates become more intriguing. By the January 23, 2025 deadline, six contenders had submitted their $350,000 entry fee and required documents. To enter, candidates also needed 300 signatures from registered Liberals and a $50,000 deposit. Meanwhile, those wishing to vote for the next leader must be registered Liberals by January 27, 2025, ensuring that only those committed to the party’s “ideals” can influence its future direction.
Former BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark was not one of the entrants, having bowed out—after her disastrous first interview on the race. When asked if she had joined the federal Conservative party in support of Jean Charest in the 2022 Conservative leadership race, she panicked and lied, denying she’d joined the party. Predictably, the Tories produced receipts showing she had. Instead of owning it with something like, “Yes, I supported Charest because his pragmatic leadership transcends partisan lines, but I believe the Liberals are best positioned to tackle today’s issues,” Clark fumbled and denied joining the Tories. She apologized the next day, saying she misspoke, and walked away, knowing the damage was done. With her exit, the Liberals probably lost their most credible chance to avoid electoral obliteration.
The Registered Contenders: A Motley Crew
Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland are the front runners in this charade parade. Their sudden U-turn on the carbon tax is like two chefs who spent years forcing diners to eat nothing but kale salads, lecturing them on how it’s the only way to stay healthy, only to now stroll into the dining room with plates of double cheeseburgers, saying, “Actually, carbs aren’t so bad after all.” It’s a masterclass in hypocrisy: the same people who championed the carbon tax as the moral and economic cornerstone of ‘Canada’s climate policy’ are now tossing it aside like last season’s political talking point. Apparently, when votes are on the menu, principles become as flexible as a politician’s schedule during campaign season.
Mark Carney’s leadership campaign is about as exciting as a damp sponge. The former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, ex-Brookfield exec, and Trudeau advisor is now running as “the outsider.” But Carney is so inside; even his outside is part of the insider club. His pitch? A top-tier resume designed to convince us he’s the fresh face we need.
The kicker? Quebec’s self-proclaimed socialist, Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault, the poster child for environmental virtue-signalling and the Darth Vader of anything remotely resembling natural resource development or progress, is all-in on Carney. Because if there’s one thing that screams “economic revival,” it’s an endorsement from someone who thinks oil is a four-letter word.
But Carney’s not alone. He’s got a squad of underwhelming cabinet ministers behind him, including Industry Minister Paul Champagne and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly -both Quebecers and the A-team of political mediocrity: Anita Anand, Bill Blair, Jonathan Wilkinson, Steven MacKinnon, and former Immigration Minister Sean Fraser—the man who single-handedly broke Canada’s immigration system. Together, this team of underachievers, who collectively have implemented regressive tax and spending policies that are the reason Canada’s economy is struggling,are now backing Carney. Nothing says “outsider” like that.
Then, the cherry on top for Carney’s critics: Liz Truss, former British PM, came out swinging against Carney last week, warning that his policies on net zero were “disastrous” for Britain and would be “disastrous” for Canada. And speaking of endorsements, at Carney’s campaign launch, an Indigenous woman kicked things off with a prayer. But instead of a glowing recommendation, she quipped that she didn’t really know him and that he would “need the help of the Great Spirit.” Even the spiritual realm seems sceptical.
To his credit, Carney’s a man of substance—if substance is defined as the charm of a brick wall. He’s a master of lecturing, name-dropping, and endlessly reminding us of the high-profile people he’s met (including Donald Trump), he keeps reminding everyone of this, in case we missed it). Carney’s team must have told him that dismissing Pierre Poilievre would make him the next great Liberal hope because he slags Poilievre at every turn. Whether that works remains to be seen, though. In a 2022 parliamentary committee, Poilievre ground and pound Carney as he attempted to wax poetic about inequality. It was met with Poilievre’s line about how Carney’s idea of “struggling” probably involved deciding between caviar or lobster. Watching Carney squirm was like watching someone try to remove a stain from a $500 shirt—it wasn’t pretty, and it sure wasn’t working.
Former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, celebrated for her role in renegotiating NAFTA, has also thrown her hat into the ring. Her campaign launch was notably disrupted by protesters, boredom and a distinct lack of energy and charisma. The former Deputy PM, who was ‘the hand of the Dauphin’, Trudeau, for over a decade, managed to get five oxygen-deprived cabinet ministers to endorse her. As the saying goes… turkeys don’t fly.
Karina Gould entered the race, billing herself as the change candidate. The former Liberal House Leader, poster child and cheerleader for the Trudeau government and all things Liberal claimed for years that the Liberal tax and spend agenda was working and that Canada was in great shape as a result. Her newfound conversion from her fictional reality to the non-fiction pan-Canadian reality of today is a complete reversal and lacks credibility. Her team’s brilliant strategy for her to win is having her admit that Canadians don’t like the Liberals because of what their agenda has done to the country or as Gould herself put it, “Canadians have lost trust in our party, and part of it is because I don’t think we responded to the issues that they were telling us mattered to them.” It appears Ms. Gould hasn’t filled her car with gas, paid rent or been to a grocery store in years. Then there is the whole problem of her allowing a Nazi to be honoured in Parliament without proper vetting or her peculiar silence over the rampant antisemitism that has raged in Canada under the Trudeau government -especially since October 7th. Apparently, she is not counting on the Jewish votes in the party because, after ten years of Trudeau, there are none left as they have all joined the Conservative party.
Jaime Battiste is a candidate from Cape Breton, as is my family—and yet, I’ve never heard of the guy. Apparently, he’s gunning to become Canada’s first Indigenous Prime Minister with a focus on inclusive governance and addressing the longstanding disparities faced by Indigenous communities. Admirable goals, sure, but haven’t we already had a decade of Trudeau’s “sunny ways” approach, which, among other things, doubled the Indigenous Affairs budget from $14 billion per year in 2015 to over $28 billion each year since …and the Trudeau Liberals added a whole second Indigenous department, and yet, according to last year’s Auditor General report, this increased money and bureaucracy delivered next to no measurable improvement in Indigenous communities across Canada. To be candid, if we’re talking Indigenous leadership with real results, the name to watch isn’t Battiste—it’s Wab Kinew, the Premier of Manitoba, who’s proving that meaningful change isn’t just a talking point. Maybe Battiste should consider an internship with Kinew before launching himself into what feels more like a political vanity project than a serious bid for leadership. Sometimes, the best way to lead is to learn first.
Frank Baylis, the entrepreneur-turned-politician who was a Liberal MP from Quebec between 2015 and 2019, certainly has a lot to say about economic resilience and innovation—and why wouldn’t he? After all, who else could boast about securing a $100 million untendered federal contract during the pandemic? Yes, you read that correctly—a cool hundred million with no competition. While Baylis insists everything was above board, the precise details of how it all came together remain a bit of a mystery. Maybe he has a secret to winning those “legit” contracts, or perhaps it’s simply his impressive knack for networking. As a self-declared champion of economic reform, Baylis is asking Canadians to trust his business experience to guide the country out of its economic challenges. Hmm.
Ruby Dhalla is back and she’s ready to lead the Liberal Party. You know, just in case you forgot about her. After all, what better time for someone who’s been MIA from the national stage to jump in and “reshape” the party with fresh, new ideas… from a decade ago. Her pitch? She’s the voice of the people, particularly marginalized communities. Of course, that voice was a little quieter during the past few elections, but hey, social equity and healthcare never go out of style with Liberals, right? Dhalla’s plan is to capture the youth vote. According to all the latest polls, ‘the youth vote’ in Canada today has completely turned on the Liberal party and is deserting them in droves. So -by math alone-the outcome does not look good for Dhalla. With a $350,000 entry fee—this is pure folly.
Chandra Arya was going to run, but the party told him he couldn’t run because he didn’t qualify. The good news for him is that he will now have time to take some Canadian history courses and learn to speak French.
As the Liberal Party’s leadership race continues to unfold, it’s shaping up to be a blend of political theatre and chicanery. With every new twist and turn, this tragic-comedy for Canada continues to play out. In these Trumpian times, it’s hard to watch as the country drifts aimlessly, ensnared in a leadership contest that offers little direction. Stay tuned for more of this cheesy spectacle.