Also in the wake of news that Mr. Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) is scheduling an announcement of his candidacy on Oct. 2, at an event in his Montreal riding, B.C. MP Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra, B.C.) told The Hill Times on Thursday that she is establishing an “exploratory team” to flesh out her own plans to enter the race and is no longer in the “considering” stage.
With Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour, N.B.) still considering a candidacy, and at least one Liberal MP from Atlantic Canada telling The Hill Timeshe is waiting for word from Mr. LeBlanc before he decides which other candidate he would support, comments from Liberals indicate the race shaping up into a battle that, whatever the outcome, could transform the party into the shape it needs to be in to fight the two fronts it faces for the 2015 federal election—the NDP with its 101 seats, including 58 in Quebec, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) on a wider demographic and regional basis across the country. The Conservatives hold 163 seats in the Commons and the Liberals hold only 35 seats, the worst showing in its political history.
Alongside a potential field of three star Quebec candidates if Mr. Cauchon throws in his hat into the ring, Mr. LeBlanc and Ms. Murray would be joined by at least three candidates from outside caucus who have been doing leadership groundwork for months, one of them already declared.
Mr. Cauchon, quiet recently and following his high-profile mingling with Liberal Senators and MPs at the party’s early September caucus retreat in Montebello, Que., where Liberal party president Mike Crawford effectively kicked off a six-month leadership contest with the voting next April, was still mentioned as a prospective star candidate Thursday on the Hill by one of the most experienced members of the Liberal Commons caucus.
Mr. Cauchon—who ran against and lost to NDP Leader Tom Mulcair (Outremont, Que.) in 2011 in the riding Mr. Cauchon had held from 1993 to 2004—was considered one of the leading Liberal Quebec lights under Mr. Chrétien—regularly outdrawing all other Cabinet ministers at fundraising attractions and partisan dinners and events.
After a decade out of politics, Mr. Cauchon is still considered an influential and widely-respected political figure in Quebec, who Liberals say would be a strong general election candidate against Mr. Mulcair in his former riding, particularly under the province’s new political environment with a separatist Parti Québécois minority government in office.
Liberal MP MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque, P.E.I.), another former Chrétien Cabinet minister who told The Hill Timesthat he has pledged his support to Mr. Trudeau, mentioned Mr. Cauchon along with Mr. Garneau when responding to a question about whether he expects Mr. LeBlanc to run.
“I hope he does, I would hope Marc Garneau does and I think there’s a fairly good chance that Joyce [Murray] might run from B.C. as well, maybe Martin Cauchon as well, I don’t know if he’s still considering, but he was making some calls,” Mr. Easter said.
Mr. Easter said despite the flush of attention on Mr. Trudeau this week, he does not believe other strong candidates will be intimidated.
“The last thing I want to see, in all honesty, is a coronation,” Mr. Easter said. “I think we need a race. I think we need people to be tested, to get their teams together, because it’s a trial run for an election campaign, they need to be tested, all candidates need to be tested in debate in their positions on rural issues, on urban issues, on foreign issues and defence, so that they have the breadth of policy views and experience.”
Mr. Easter said: “We have a good policy foundation, it drives me bananas when people say, ‘What’s the Liberal party stand for?’ The Liberal Party policy, for the last three elections, was more substantive than any other party.”
Mr. Easter added the party also has sound policy resolutions from its convention last January, and a history of Liberal Party principles to stand on.
“The candidates need to be seen beyond that: what, beyond those policy thrusts, do they believe in? And that’s best tested on the road, in debate, at town halls, and that’s what I’m hoping to see,” Mr. Easter said.
Liberal MP Scott Andrews (Avalon, Nfld.) told The Hill Times, when asked if he is leaning toward supporting Mr. Trudeau, that he will wait for Mr. LeBlanc’s decision before making a choice.
“I think it’s a little early to commit to someone. I’m still waiting on whether Dominic has decided to enter the race or not, out of fairness to him, and there are other colleagues expressing interest, so I’m just holding tight for a little bit,” Mr. Andrews said.
If Mr. LeBlanc decides not to enter the race, Mr. Andrews said: “I would have to seriously give Justin consideration. He’s my generation, my age, I think he’s got that knack, that charisma, that we need at this point, and we’ll just have to wait and see where the field goes.”
Mr. LeBlanc’s senior assistant on Parliament Hill, Sébastien Belliveau, told The Hill Times on Thursday that Mr. LeBlanc “hasn’t taken a final decision yet.”
Two other Liberal MPs have also already told The Hill Times they will back Mr. Trudeau—Massimo Pacetti (Saint Léonard-Saint Michel, Que.) and Scott Simms (Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, Nfld.).
Ms. Murray, who late last summer confirmed to The Hill Times she was considering a candidacy, said Thursday she has moved forward.
“I’m more than considering. I’m working towards putting together an exploratory team that can help me create a national campaign,” Ms. Murray said.
“I’ll have to assess at a certain point whether I feel that I have what I need to mount a national campaign and fund it, and I have every intention to do that,” she said. “But, of course, I’m a practical person, and I’m at the beginning of this and so I’ll take a look and see how it’s going, not too far down the road.”
Former Liberal candidate Deborah Coyne, a lawyer who was involved in the Meech Lake Accord constitutional battles of the late 1980s and who had a daughter with Mr. Trudeau’s father, former late prime minister Pierre Trudeau, has declared her candidacy.
Two other Liberals, prominent within party circles, have actively been campaigning for support at least since last January—former Ottawa-Orleans election candidate David Bertschi and Toronto lawyer George Takach, who has not officially declared, but has already arranged for a top B.C. Liberal organizer and former campaign strategist for Mr. Martin, Mark Marissen, to lead his team. Mr. Marissen, principal of Burrard Communications Inc. in Vancouver, B.C., also served in 2006 as national campaign manager for Liberal MP Stéphane Dion’s (Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Que.) successful leadership bid.
Mr. Trudeau, whose campaign director is Katie Telford, a top aide to Mr. Dion when he was Liberal leader, is also drawing on B.C. organizing talent. Mr. Trudeau has recruited B.C. political organizer and campaign strategist Bruce Young and another campaign veteran in the province, Steve Kukucha.
Gerald Butts, head of the World Wildlife Fund Canada and a former campaign strategist and political aide to Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, is a senior adviser on Mr. Trudeau’s campaign.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: Tim Naumetz
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