Liberals lagging behind other parties on nominating candidates as election looms

OTTAWA — With a federal election call expected any day now, the Liberal party has only nominated about half of the candidates it would need to have a full slate on the ballot even as their polling numbers have been jump-started following their recent leadership race.

There will be 343 ridings contested in the upcoming vote and the Conservatives have nominated candidates in 275 of them so far. The NDP has 217 candidates and the Green Party has 208.

As of Tuesday afternoon, a Liberal party spokesperson said the party had nominated 185 candidates, but later clarified it was 184. About 110 of the nominated candidates so far are incumbents, with more than two dozen Liberals choosing not to run again.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has not yet announced where he will run himself, is widely expected to trigger an early election in the coming weeks or days.

The Liberal party has enjoyed a sharp rebound in the polls in recent months, driven by U.S. President Donald Trump’s frequent threats against Canada’s economy and sovereignty and Justin Trudeau’s dramatic exit from federal politics.

Carney is just days into the job after winning the Liberal leadership in a landslide on March 9. He was sworn in March 14.

Prior to Trudeau’s departure, the Liberals looked destined for electoral failure and incumbent MPs were jumping out of politics in rapid succession. The party’s enthusiasm has changed now with the polls and at least four candidates who had initially planned to leave jumped back in to run again in recent weeks.

In an email, Liberal party spokesperson Guillaume Bertrand said the party has witnessed “an unprecedented volume in individuals eager to run for the Liberal Party of Canada.”

“Since Mark Carney’s election as our new leader, over 100 individuals from across the country have expressed interest in becoming Liberal candidates,” Bertrand said. “New candidates are nominated every day across the country and we are expecting more in the coming days.”

Other than Carney, Nate Erskine-Smith is the only member of cabinet who hasn’t been nominated, according to a list of candidates shared by the Liberals on Tuesday.

Erskine-Smith, who initially planned not to seek re-election but changed his mind in December when Trudeau offered him a cabinet post, told The Canadian Press that his nomination is done and he’s just awaiting final notarization.

Dan Arnold, chief strategy officer at Pollara and former pollster for the Trudeau Liberals, says a lot of Liberal nominations were probably held up until the leadership change.

He said that could be because young candidates only wanted to run if Carney won or because the party felt it was inappropriate to nominate people until the new leader was sworn in.

Arnold said the party could also still be completing background checks and that it could want to allow Carney to have a say about selections in more competitive ridings. He said the party may also be saving some candidate announcements for the campaign.

With poll numbers going up, Arnold said the party may also be trying to do “a last pass” to try to find higher-profile candidates in some ridings.

“When the polling suddenly has the Liberals at 30 per cent in Alberta, maybe there’s more interest in some of those Calgary, Edmonton seats than there was before,” Arnold said. “I think there’s a lot of scrambling going on, I’d imagine.”

Arnold said he expects many more candidates will be named and that Carney will say where he plans to run in the coming days.

“My assumption is at this point, you know, they would not be planning to go into an election within a week if they did not have a plan to get candidates in every riding,” Arnold said. “I think that’s true for all the parties by now.”

Anne McGrath, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s principal secretary, says the party is ready for an election and will have a full slate of candidates in “every riding from coast to coast to coast.”

In 2021, the NDP had 201 candidates when the campaign began.

— With files from Kyle Duggan

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press