Liberal Party of Canada unveils criteria for leadership race

The federal Liberals will choose their new leader on March 9, the party announced Thursday night, giving potential candidates just two weeks to decide whether to run, while those interested in joining the party to vote for the future leader will have less than three weeks to do so.

The party’s national board of directors met Thursday night to decide the rules for the race to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced Monday he would resign as soon as a new leader is chosen.

Candidates have until January 23 to declare their candidacy and will have to pay a $350,000 registration fee to enter the race.

The Liberals did not specify Thursday how people will vote, but they tightened the rules on who is eligible to vote in the race after concerns were raised that anyone with a Canadian address over the age of 14 could potentially vote.

To participate in this selection process, you must be registered as a Liberal member before January 27, be at least 14 years old and be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or have status under the Indian Act.

Former Montreal MP Frank Baylis and Ontario MP Chandra Arya are the only two candidates to officially confirm they plan to run. Baylis, who served as MP for Pierrefonds—Dollard from 2015 to 2019, confirmed his intentions hours after Trudeau’s announcement, while Arya did the same Thursday morning.

Former British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney are both considering entering the race.

Several cabinet ministers are also being considered, including François-Philippe Champagne, Mélanie Joly, Karina Gould, Steven MacKinnon and Jonathan Wilkinson. Former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is also considering entering the race.

Freeland left cabinet on Dec. 16, just hours before the fall economic statement was due to be delivered. Her departure sparked a furor among members of the Liberal caucus who were already pushing for Trudeau to resign. 

By late December, a majority of his caucus publicly supported his desire for him to leave.

For his part, the new Minister of Finance, Dominic LeBlanc, announced Wednesday that he would not run for the leadership of the party, because he wants to focus on the fight against the customs tariffs that are expected when Donald Trump takes office on January 20.

Elections imminent

The Liberals have little time to organize their leadership race. Parliament is prorogued until March 24, but all opposition parties promise to vote against the government at the first opportunity. 

The new Liberal leader will potentially have just over two weeks in power before the country is plunged into an election. 

On Thursday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre held a news conference in Ottawa and attempted to portray all potential Liberal leadership candidates as clones of the outgoing prime minister, saying they all supported signature Liberal policies like carbon pricing.

He is pushing to make carbon pricing the ballot box issue.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 10, 2025.