Jean Charest will run for Conservative leadership, Tom Mulcair says

Charest readies bid for Conservative leadership CTV News Political commentator Tom Mulcair discusses former Quebec Premier Jean Charest's potential bid for Conservative leadership.

Montreal — Jean Charest will run for the leadership of the federal Conservative party, according to CTV political analyst and former NDP leader Tom Mulcair.

The former Quebec premier and deputy prime-minister of Canada has discussed the issue with his family, Mulcair said, and will throw his name into the race.

"The information I've been getting all confirms he will be running," Mulcair told CJAD 800's Aaron Rand. "He will indeed be announcing that he's going to take a run at the Conservative leadership."

"It's a game-changer," Mulcair said, noting that Charest is a political veteran who will intimidate candidates who don't have the same political pedigree.

"I can tell you that, according to the information I was able to gather, he's already well organized -- and well financed," he said.

So far, Charest is being supported by the more liberal members of the Conservative party, Mulcair said.

"He's got a lot of Toronto Conservatives: the old school; the progressive-conservatives," he explained.

Former Conservative MP Lisa Raitt told Power Play earlier Wednesday that Charest's potential run was an important development in the Conservative leadership race.

Charest had called her to console her after she lost her seat in parliament, she said.

"The very first call I received from somebody from the political side of life was from Jean Charest saying 'I'm sorry that you lost, but chin up," she said.

Since he resigned as leader of Quebec's Liberal Party in 2012, the provincial anti-corruption unit, UPAC, has investigated Charest's former party in connection with allegations that engineering and construction firms made illegal donations to the Liberal Party in exchange for government contracts between 2003 and 2012.

With files from CJAD 800