OTTAWA — He is not a Canadian and he is certainly not a Liberal, but U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has had a huge influence on the race to replace Justin Trudeau.
Before the end of the weekend, the Liberal leadership field should be set. Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney announced Thursday that he would seek the job of party leader and prime minister. Government House Leader Karina Gould is expected to announce her bid this weekend, and former finance minster Chrystia Freeland announced her candidacy on social media Friday morning, saying she was “running to fight for Canada.”
Freeland, who will formally launch her campaign in Toronto on Sunday, presented herself in a column published in the Star on Friday as the best candidate to fight Trump’s threatened trade war with Canada.
She said Canada will have to be tough with the incoming administration.
“If you hit us, we will hit back. We will not escalate, but we will never back down,” she wrote. “If pushed, our response will be the single largest trade blow the U.S. economy has ever endured.”
Freeland called for dollar-for-dollar tariffs on the U.S., which she said could bring $150 billion into government coffers that could be used to support businesses and individuals.
Trump has threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all imports to the U.S. from Canada on the first day of his administration. In a social media post, he has referred to Freeland — who helped renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement during his first term as president — as “toxic.”
Fighting back against the Trump threat was also part of Carney’s speech when he launched his campaign in Edmonton, leaning on his experiences at the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England.
“I helped manage multiple crises and I’ve helped save two economies. I know how business works and I know how to make it work for you,” he said.
Carney, who served as an economic adviser to the Liberals, said Trudeau’s government has taken its focus off the economy at times. He pledged not to do the same as leader, and made the economy the centrepiece of his pitch.
“Our growth has been too slow. People’s wages are too low and necessities like groceries and rent are too expensive for too many. The federal government spends too much, but it invests too little,” he said.
Freeland’s resignation from Trudeau’s cabinet in December was widely seen as the catalyst for his announcement that he would step down as Liberal leader. Before she publicly released her resignation letter, only a handful of Liberal MPs were calling on him to quit; within days, that number was in the dozens.
Trudeau ultimately cited “internal battles” as his reason for not leading his party into the next election campaign.
In her letter, Freeland accused Trudeau of not being focused on the threat Trump poses.
“We need to take that threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment,” she wrote.
Ottawa MP Chandra Arya, former Quebec MP Frank Baylis and Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste have also said they intend to join the leadership race.
Trump will be sworn in as president on Monday with an agenda for his first 100 days in office that promises tariffs, “mass deportations” of people who are in the United States illegally, and to back away from any climate pledges made by the administration of President Joe Biden.
Trump’s last term as president presented challenges to Canada that included tariffs on softwood lumber . His second term’s first 100 days, a time when U.S. presidents have historically been very active, will coincide with the Liberal leadership race and possibly the start of a federal election campaign in Canada.
Trump’s influence over Canadian politics has been cited by some potential Liberal leadership contenders for their decisions not to enter the race.
On Friday, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson was the latest cabinet minister to specifically cite the looming trade war as a reason to stay at his post and out of the leadership contest.
“Stepping aside from my position in cabinet at this critical time would not, in my view, best serve Canadians and the country I love so very much,” he said. “It is the seriousness with which I take the service of this country that has led me to come to this decision.”
Wilkinson also said he would run again in the next election regardless of who becomes the Liberal leader.
Among Trudeau’s current cabinet members, Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne have all said they will take a pass on the leadership race, citing the need to focus on their current jobs and the threat Trump poses.
Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon and Transport Minister Anita Anand also declined to seek the leadership, but did not specifically cite Trump’s economic threats.
Freeland and Carney have both attracted caucus support since launching their campaigns.
Freeland has the support of MPs Michael Coteau, James Maloney, Yvan Baker, Mark Holland, Rob Oliphant, Kevin Lamoureux, Diane Lebouthillier , Alexandra Mendes, Stephane Lauzon, Ben Carr, Randy Boissonnault, Lena Diab, Ken McDonald, Anthony Housefather, Julie Dabrusin, Lloyd Longfield and Marie-Claude Bibeau.
Carney has the support of MPs Salma Zahid, Patrick Weiler, George Chahal, Sophie Chatel, Wayne Long, Brendan Hanley , Sukh Dhaliwal, Randeep Sarai, Shafqat Ali, Sameer Zuberi and Francesco Sorbara.
Those who want to join the leadership race have until Jan. 27 to sign up new members and must raise $350,000 as an entrance fee.
Details of the vote are still being worked out, but registered Liberals will be able to cast a ranked ballot in the contest.
The new leader will be chosen on March 9.
Correction – Jan. 17, 2025
This article was updated from a previous version that mistakenly said Jonathan Wilkinson said he wasn’t confident that he could put together a successful campaign with the short timeline. In fact, he said the opposite.
