
Justin Trudeau’s 9 years as Canadian prime minister is coming to an finish after he introduced he’ll step down as chief of the governing Liberal Celebration.
It means his occasion should now discover a new chief to compete in a basic election during which polls counsel they’re heading to defeat.
Listed here are among the individuals anticipated to enter the Liberal management race.
Former Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland

The Toronto member of parliament is seen as one of many prime contenders to switch the outgoing chief and have become probably the most well-known members of Trudeau’s staff.
Whereas she had lengthy been seen as a trusted senior official in his internal circle, a rift with the prime minister’s workplace led to her current abrupt resignation in December.
Her criticism of Trudeau in her public resignation letter piled the stress on him and made his departure appear inevitable.
Born to a Ukrainian mom within the western province of Alberta, the 56-year-old was a journalist earlier than getting into politics.
She entered the Home of Commons in 2013 and two years later joined Trudeau’s cupboard with a commerce transient after he swept the occasion to energy.
As Minister of Overseas Affairs she helped Canada renegotiate a free commerce cope with the US and Mexico.
She was later named deputy prime minister and minister of finance – the primary lady to carry the job – and oversaw Canada’s monetary response to the Covid pandemic.
Quitting final month, she criticised Trudeau as insufficiently sturdy in his dealing with of Donald Trump’s menace to levy US tariffs on Canadian items.
A 2019 Globe and Mail profile stated relying who you requested, Freeland is both a final, greatest hope for the liberal world order or an out-of-touch idealist.
Her steadfast assist of Ukraine earned reward in some quarters however the Harvard-educated MP has had her share of critics, together with Trump who just lately known as her “poisonous”.
Former central banker Mark Carney

Trudeau himself admitted that he had lengthy been attempting to recruit Mark Carney to his staff, most just lately as finance minister.
“He can be an excellent addition at a time when Canadians want good individuals to step up in politics,” he informed reporters on the sidelines of a Nato convention in July 2024.
Carney, 59, who has been serving in current months as a particular adviser to Trudeau, has lengthy been thought of a contender for the highest job.
The Harvard graduate has by no means held public workplace however has a robust financial background, serving on the prime of each the Financial institution of Canada and the Financial institution of England.
He additionally brings with him experience on environmental issues via his position because the United Nations particular envoy on local weather motion, just lately calling the aim of internet zero “the best industrial alternative of our time”.
Carney is a champion of some Liberal insurance policies which were unpopular inside the nation’s conservative circles just like the federal carbon tax coverage, the occasion’s signature local weather coverage that critics argue is a monetary burden for Canadians.
He has additionally already criticised Pierre Poilievre, the chief of the Conservative Celebration of Canada, saying his imaginative and prescient for the way forward for the nation is “with out a plan” and “simply slogans”.
“I am the one within the dialog who’s truly been in enterprise, who truly is in enterprise, and makes choices,” he stated.
Anita Anand, transport minister

Anand is commonly touted as one of many extra bold members of the Liberal caucus.
The 57-year-old lawyer entered the political scene in 2019 when she was elected to characterize the driving of Oakville, simply outdoors of Toronto.
An Oxford-educated educational, she has a background in monetary market regulation and company governance.
She was instantly awarded the ministerial transient of public providers and procurement, placing her on the helm of a mission to safe vaccines and private protecting tools in the course of the Covid pandemic.
Anand was then appointed minister of defence in 2021, main Canada’s efforts to offer help for Ukraine in its conflict towards Russia and overseeing a personnel disaster on the Canadian Armed Forces mired by sexual misconduct scandals.
When Anand was shuffled out of that division to supervise the Treasury Board, many noticed it as a demotion and critics of Trudeau went so far as to invest that it was punishment for her ambitions to someday lead the occasion.
In December, she was moved once more throughout a cupboard shuffle, into the position of transport minister and minister of inside commerce.
François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and business

The previous businessman and worldwide commerce specialist is one other Liberal minister stated to be eyeing the occasion’s prime job.
However his journey via the ranks to a significant portfolio was slower than Anand’s.
Champagne, 54, entered the Commons in 2015 however since then has gone via worldwide commerce, international affairs and most just lately the division of innovation, science and business.
However there are a number of issues that work in his favour. Champagne is from Quebec, a province whose voice has usually been consequential in federal Canadian elections.
He has additionally been dubbed “Canada’s Energizer Bunny” by some pundits, who’ve watched his enthusiasm as he travelled world wide below his innovation portfolio with a mission to promote all that’s Canada-made.
And due to his enterprise acumen, political watchers see him as a viable choice for luring centrist Liberals again into the fold.
Mélanie Joly, minister of international affairs

Like Trudeau, Joly represents a Montreal-area driving.
To international leaders, the 45-year-old is a well-known face, having represented Canada on the world stage since 2021.
As the present international minister, she has taken a number of journeys to Ukraine in a present of Canada’s assist. She travelled to Jordan to help within the evacuation of Canadian residents within the area when the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted.
Joly has additionally been on the coronary heart of among the authorities’s biggest international coverage challenges, together with the diplomatic disaster sparked by the alleged assassination of a Sikh separatist chief on Canadian soil by Indian brokers.
The Oxford-educated lawyer is a well-connected francophone politician who beforehand ran for mayor of Montreal.
She was tapped by Trudeau personally to run for a federal job in politics.
“He would periodically name me to say, ‘Mélanie you could run, we wish you to run,'” Joly has stated.
Senior advisers have hailed her skill to work a room of both seven or 700, and he or she has lengthy held ambitions to run for Liberal occasion chief, shut mates informed Canadian journal Macleans.
Dominic LeBlanc, minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs

LeBlanc, 57, is one among Trudeau’s closest and most trusted allies.
Their friendship runs deep, with LeBlanc even babysitting Trudeau and his siblings once they have been younger.
He has a document of moving into portfolios at tough moments, together with changing into finance minister inside hours of Freeland’s bombshell resignation.
LeBlanc additionally took on the difficult project of accompanying Trudeau to Mar-a-Lago in November to fulfill Trump.
The previous lawyer has been a parliamentarian for greater than twenty years, having been first elected in 2000 to characterize a driving within the Atlantic province of New Brunswick.
Like Trudeau, LeBlanc was born right into a political household. His father served as a minister within the cupboard of Trudeau’s fabled father, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and later as Canada’s governor-general.
LeBlanc has proven earlier ambitions to steer the occasion, operating in 2008 however dropping to Michael Ignatieff. He didn’t run once more within the subsequent management race, which was gained by Trudeau.
He’s in remission after most cancers remedy and is understood to be an affable and a robust political communicator.
Christy Clark, a former provincial premier

The previous premier of British Columbia has expressed an curiosity in throwing her hat into the Liberal management ring.
In an announcement in October, she stated she was “would need to be a part of the dialog on the longer term path of the Liberal Celebration and of the nation” if Trudeau stepped down.
Clark, 59, served because the chief of Canada’s western-most province from 2011 to 2017, the place she constructed a popularity of having the ability to stability environmental priorities whereas creating BC’s vitality business.
She has repeatedly stated in interviews prior to now couple of years that Trudeau had grow to be a drag on the federal Liberals.
She has additionally reportedly been taking French classes, in keeping with broadcaster Radio-Canada. A fluency in French is taken into account a prerequisite for federal politicians in Canada.