Former British Columbia Premier Christy Clark will not enter the Liberal leadership race to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, she said Tuesday.
Sources told CTV News that Clark was “excited” to tell her core team about her decision in a conference call.
“I have made the difficult decision to step back,” Clark wrote in an email to his followers.
“While we have come a long way, in a short time, there is simply not enough time to mount a successful campaign and to effectively connect with French-speaking Canadians in their language,” he also wrote. “I have worked hard to improve my French, but today it is not where it should be.”
Clark had expressed interest in running for the leadership, but has faced criticism for retracting claims about whether or not he joined the Conservative Party three years ago to vote in its leadership race.
Meanwhile, Government House Leader Karina Gould will launch her bid for Liberal leader this week, a source close to her campaign told CTV News.
She wants to run a campaign focused on affordability and younger Canadians, says a source close to her.
Gould, who was first elected in 2015 as MP for Burlington, has headed several cabinet portfolios since then. In 2018, she made history as the first cabinet minister to take maternity leave.
Before being elected, Gould worked as a trade and investment specialist for the Mexican Trade Commission in Toronto and as a consultant in the United States. He has a master’s degree from the University of Oxford in England.
Who else is running?
He will join backbenchers Jaime Battiste and Chandra Arya and former MP Frank Baylis on the list of contenders who have officially announced their intention to run.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne is expected to announce his leadership intentions today.
Former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who resigned from Trudeau’s cabinet in a shock resignation letter last month, will also announce her leadership bid within the week, sources close to her told CTV News.
Those sources say Freeland will make her announcement “close” to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration day, along with her first dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs and policy plan.
Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney will also announce a bid, with dozens of MPs lined up to support him, according to a source close to him.
Two sources told CTV News Edmonton that the former central banker is expected to begin his campaign in Edmonton, his hometown.
With files from Mike Le Couteur, Rachel Aiello and Vassy Kapelos of CTV News
