Liberal party establishment rallies around Carney, Freeland on deadline day

OTTAWA — The Liberal caucus met on Parliament Hill Thursday to plot election strategy but the biggest conversations were largely about who sitting MPs will back in the upcoming vote to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as their leader.

Candidates had until 5 p.m. ET Thursday to submit the required nomination signatures and an initial $50,000 deposit to be considered by the party as a contender, though the party won’t announce the final ballot names until it reviews the paperwork over the next 10 days. The vote itself will conclude with the new leader announced on March 9.

In all, seven Liberals have now confirmed either on social media or to The Canadian Press that they provided the required signatures and the initial deposit, including former central banker Mark Carney, MPs Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould, Chandra Arya and Jaime Battiste, and former MPs Frank Baylis and Ruby Dhalla.

MPs outside the caucus room said they have party unity, President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and the economy top of mind as they decide on their next leader. Most have rallied around the two presumed front runners: Freeland, who until December was the minister of finance, and Carney, who has been advising the Liberals on economic policy in an official capacity since September.

Gould, who stepped down as House leader last weekend when she launched her bid, is campaigning as a candidate who can rejuvenate the party after nearly a decade in power. On Thursday, she downplayed getting only a few caucus endorsements to date.

She said the leadership ultimately will be decided by grassroots members and “unlike some of the other candidates, I’ve only been organizing for two weeks.”

Freeland on Thursday said if she wins the race, she will repeal capital gains tax changes she introduced last year. She also said the party has to have a mechanism to remove its leader — a barb at Trudeau who earlier this month announced he would step down after months of resisting pressure to do so.

Carney is trying to run as the outsider candidate, the only one of the seven candidates who has never been elected as an MP. He is, however, backed by a growing number of high-profile and establishment Liberals, including multiple cabinet ministers like Steven MacKinnon, Steven Guilbeault, Patty Hajdu and Jenna Sudds. Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson was the latest minister to join the Carney fold Thursday.

Carney held an event for supporters in Ottawa Thursday afternoon, and while the event was entirely closed to media, he stopped briefly to take questions from reporters gathered outside the venue.

He touted “the team” and support he’s garnered but rejected the notion that he can’t be the outsider when the establishment appears to be backing him.

“That’s a free choice. This is the Liberal party. We believe in freedom, and we believe in good judgment. And thus far Liberals are showing very good judgment,” he said.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner held a press conference outside a nearby Ottawa pub, specifically to criticize Carney for avoiding the media since launching his campaign last week.

The Canadian Press caught up with Carney on Wednesday after learning he was skating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, and he took one question — about his position on carbon pricing. Carney has not done substantive interviews with members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery while in the capital.

“We have heard absolutely nothing, zero, crickets, from this man about what he would do as prime minister,” Rempel Garner said.

“I think it’s curious, putting it mildly, that an unelected man who thinks that he can waltz into the Prime Minister’s Office without answering any questions about policy during a time of national crisis, can get away with that. Where is he?”

Carney was not scheduled to speak to the media before his event, and media were not invited in to hear anything he said inside.

With the deadline coming Monday to sign party members up to be able to vote in the leadership contest, candidates are hyper-focused on the supporter outreach aspect of their campaigns. A big part of that has been luring in influential Liberals and sitting MPs, whose endorsements can bring in many more supporters and votes along with them.

Winnipeg MP Ben Carr has backed Freeland, and said Thursday she treated him as an equal and made time for him when he was a new Liberal MP trying to find his way in Parliament.

“She’s tough,” he said. “We need someone right now who’s gonna have the ability to negotiate with the Americans in a way that defends the interests of Canada.”

Quebec MP Joël Lightbound said Carney is the right leader to “steer us through the turbulent times we’re facing economically.”

MacKinnon, the labour minister, said it was Carney’s economic vision which earned his vote of confidence.

“I’ve been solidly impressed with Mark’s ability to converse on the issues facing Canadians, believes in a strong government, believes in economic growth and equal opportunity,” MacKinnon said outside Carney’s event.

Other members of the Liberal caucus are still playing coy in public about the candidates they plan to support.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said he’ll have more to say on the weekend, even though he’s widely expected to back Carney.

Just a few weeks ago, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Champagne were considering whether to run themselves, but both decided the time was not right. That’s left the field without a strong francophone Quebec candidate.

Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, member of Parliament for Québec, said he’s working behind the scenes to ensure the candidates are responding to Quebec issues in their platforms. He’s not expected to declare his support for anyone soon.

The Conservatives fired off emails to their own supporters Thursday claiming that the Liberals are “trying to trick you” by swapping in a new face to “make you forget how terrible the last nine years have been.”

Michael Clark, a missionary with the Christian Impact Network, has indicated he intends to run in a bid to reopen the abortion debate within the Liberal party. He would not agree to an interview unless the questions were sent to him ahead of time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2025.

Kyle Duggan and Nick Murray, The Canadian Press