Canada's Liberal Party elects new leader and prime minister to replace Trudeau: What to know
Two friends from Alberta, both in their overseas careers and similar backgrounds, are competing for Justin Trudeau as the leader of the Liberal Party and Canada, just as the country faces a generational crisis due to the Trump administration’s tariffs and sovereignty threats.
About 400,000 Liberal members are eligible to vote in their party’s important leadership competition to decide who will succeed Mr Trudeau and to commemorate a new era in Canadian politics. Those who win will have to hold a general election, which must be held by October, but may be held sooner.
The results of the election will be announced at a special event in the capital Ottawa around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Who is the candidate?
The game came between 59-year-old Mark Carney, former governor of Bank of Canada and prominent green investor of the Bank of England and renowned green investor, and 56-year-old former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose resignation sparked Mr Trudeau's decision to resign. The survey shows that Mr. Carney is the leader.
The third candidate, Karina Gould, 37, has been working to make himself a future party leader, distinguishing himself from the other two because he is speaking more clearly and more left-leaning. Frank Baylis, a 62-year-old businessman and former member of parliament, is also operating.
Ms. Freeland and Mr. Carney have similar backgrounds and are both considered centralists of technical competence, who prefer financial discipline.
Ms. Freeland has had a successful career in the international press, but has been a well-known Canadian politician for the past 10 years. Her record as Finance Minister, formerly a Foreign Minister, is under strict scrutiny. When his policies became increasingly unpopular, Ms. Freeland's critics' approval for not taking over Trudeau's account was her responsibility.
She had tried to reintroduce herself to the Canadian public as a grassroots candidate who listened to criticism and would abandon unpopular policies such as Mr. Trudeau’s tax on carbon emissions.
She has become President Trump’s best candidate for his stand-up when he initiated tariffs on Canada and threats to the country’s sovereignty. Mr. Trump is very disliked by Ms. Freeland – calling her “toxic”, “A Whack” and “incompetent” in recent months.
Ms. Freeland successfully renegotiated the NAFTA on behalf of Canada during Mr. Trump’s first term. The treaty binds Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Ms. Freeland married a reporter from The New York Times at the cultural table.
Although Mr. Carney was in the public eye throughout his public career, he was not a traditional politician before bidding for the leadership of the party.
He joined the public sector in 2004 as a senior official of the Treasury, serving under a continuous liberal and conservative government, and was later hired to lead the central bank in Canada and the UK.
His performance in both positions has been praised, helping Canada threaten the 2008 financial crisis through the Brexit environment and direct the UK, despite critics accusing him of suggesting that Brexit would damage the country's economy to incite fear.
What are their campaign promises?
Mr Carney's plan focused on the Canadian economy, which was shocked by inflation and low productivity. High housing costs have become a central issue in Canada, and Mr. Carney has committed to building 4 million homes in a few years.
Like Ms. Freeland, Mr. Carney also plans to abandon Mr. Trudeau’s carbon tax and replace it with a pricing system that would require industrial polluters to pay consumers a reduction in their carbon footprint.
Ms. Freeland's platform focuses on policy areas that have become a liberal debt, including emphasis on addressing Canadian physician shortages, increasing military spending and opposing foreign interference in politics.
How will a day develop?
Liberal Party members are able to vote online after registering with the party and confirming their identity. The vote began on February 26 and followed a ranking voting system, which means voters ranked their preferred candidates.
If the candidate does not win directly in the first count, the system can produce surprising results. After a technical breakdown in the authentication process, some candidates and voters raised concerns about the voting platform.
The results will be tracked on the Liberal Party’s website and supporters are expected to gather around 6:30 p.m. at the Rogers Center in Ottawa, not far from Capitol Hill to announce the results.
Mr Trudeau will serve as Prime Minister for nearly a decade and as Liberal leader for 13 years, and they are expected to participate.
In the coming week, new leaders may be sworn in as prime minister. The proceedings are in line with the Westminster Parliamentary system, which is followed in the UK and elsewhere.
What will happen next?
What happens next is not fully mapped, partly depending on who the new leader is.
Mr. Carney was not elected and had no seat in Parliament. His campaign shows that he will hold federal elections shortly after his appointment as prime minister.
Ms. Freeland, who owns a parliamentary seat, told The New York Times in an interview that she was considering whether it would be a good idea to consider swift elections, given the ongoing threat of tariffs and its impact on the Canadian economy.
Federal elections must be conducted by October in accordance with Canadian regulations. The Conservative Party, led by Pierre Poilievre, has long maintained more than 20 leads in the polls, but the gap has been narrowing since Trudeau announced his resignation and Mr. Trump has begun taking action against Canada.
The latest poll shows that if most respondents brought the Liberal Party into the election, he would choose Mr. Carney over Mr. Poilievre. Polls show voters will also choose Ms. Friedland instead of Mr. Poilievre, although in terms of narrower profit margins.
The poll also showed that Canadians prefer Mr. Carney and Ms. Freeland to negotiate with Mr. Trump on Mr. Poilievre.
