Tonight, the Liberal Party will announce to its next leader and the person who will soon become Prime Minister, a work that will inherit in the midst of economic turbulence and a deeply injured relationship with the closest ally of the country.
The election of the party, which would become prime minister only after being sworn by the governor general, not only represents a new chapter for the liberals, but could also mean the imminent beginning of a federal election.
CBC News will bring a special coverage of the historical event from 4 pm et.
Those who compete for work are former central banker Mark Carney, former Minister of Finance and current deputy Chrystia Freeland, former leader of the House of Representatives and current deputy Karina Gould and business leader of Montreal and former deputy Frank Baylis.
The relatively short leadership race was activated when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in early January his intention to resign after the growing revolt of Caucus and the renunciation of Freeland of the Cabinet.
At that time, the party was in a deep fall in the surveys, following the conservatives of Pierre Poilievre for more than 20 points. Recent surveys suggest that liberals are recovering. Whoever wins will be under pressure to maintain that impulse.
The campaign has seen the candidates move away from the policies of the Trudeau era such as carbon tax and changes in capital gains tax, while taking their own return to how to deal with the housing crisis and make life more affordable for Canadians.
But domestic problems have been eclipsed by the existential threat raised by the president of the United States, Donald Trump. The race became greatly a matter of who would better handle the consequences of its tariffs and threats.
After almost two months of campaign and two debates, that decision is now in the hands of thousands of registered liberals. Eligible voters have been able to cast their vote for more than a week and have until 3 pm et to obtain their votes.
How will the votes increase?
While much has been said about how Carney, which has accumulated the most of Caucus, obtained the greatest amount of money and is the main objective of the conservatives, it is the favorite, the efforts of the vote of the four campaigns will play a role tonight.
Liberals are using a classified ballot and a point system to determine the winner. Each driving (there are now 343 after changes in the limit) is worth 100 points, which means that 34,300 points are at stake. The candidates are assigned points depending on the percentage of the vote they obtain in each driving.
The leader must win most total points. The magic number is 17,151.
Party members can choose up to four people for leaders, classifying their first to last preferences.
If no candidate reaches the threshold of 17,151 in the first round, the person with the least number of points is eliminated and the tickets are counted again. If that is the case, the points will be reassigned according to the second options of the members.
That process will continue until a winner arises.
One of the first questions for Victor will be if they plan to immediately activate an election or wait until the Parliament returns on March 24.
The Sunday event is held in Ottawa and Trudeau and former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is scheduled to talk to the crowd.
Only a few days ago, Trudeau said he hopes that the transition to his successor will happen “in the next few days or week.”
The Liberal Party limited the vote to the permanent Canadians and residents, citing foreign interference concerns.
To vote in this race, the registered liberals had to obtain an electronic voter identification, then verify that online identification. Then they had to confirm their status as an eligible voter. After that, they had to confirm their identity using the application of identity+ identity+ of Canada or in person in a participating post office.
That system has been plagued with irritants, with members complaining that they have not been able to make the process work, particularly when it comes to the mobile application and the option in person to verify their identity.
The party said that the system for liberal leadership is “the safest and most accessible voting process in Canadian history.”
