Liberal leadership race narrows with Clark, Champagne out, and Freeland, Gould set to jump in

Liberal strategist Andrew Perez breaks down the leadership race, which he says has 'narrowed significantly' with high profile candidates dropping out.

Christy Clark and François-Philippe Champagne announced Tuesday that they will not run in the race to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

These announcements come alongside news that senior Liberals Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould and Mark Carney are expected to announce within the week their plans to run for the leadership.

Clark ‘emotional’ in call with team

Sources tell CTV News that Clark, the former premier of B.C. and first woman elected to that position, was “emotional” telling her core team about her decision on a conference call.

“I have made the difficult decision to step back,” Clark wrote in an email sent to her supporters.

“While we have come a long way, in a short time, there is simply not enough time to mount a successful campaign and for me to effectively connect with Francophone Canadians in their language,” she also wrote. “I have worked hard at improving my French but it’s not where it needs to be, today.”

Clark told her team she was not running because other teams had well over a year to organize and she did not see a path for herself, facing a shorter runway to organize and campaign.

Clark had expressed interest in running for the leadership, but has faced criticism for walking back claims about whether or not she joined the Conservative party three years ago to vote in its leadership race.

Her decision not to run comes after she denied in an interview with CBC News last week that she had joined the Conservative party in 2022 to endorse former Quebec premier Jean Charest in that party’s leadership race.

“I never got a membership and I never got a ballot,” Clark claimed in the interview, before challenging the Conservatives to produce evidence of her party membership and ballot.

Shortly thereafter, Jenni Bryne — a top adviser to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — posted a screenshot to social media appearing to show Clark held CPC membership from June 2, 2022, to June 30, 2023.

“Well, I misspoke,” Clark wrote in a post on social media following the interview. “Sh*t happens. Lessons learned.”

“I have always been clear that I supported Jean Charest to stop Pierre Poilievre,” she also wrote. “Not backing away from that. He’s the most divisive politician we’ve seen in years and I felt it was my duty as a (Canadian) to stop him in his tracks.”

Sources who were on the call with Clark and her core team on Tuesday insist the former premier did not raise the CPC membership controversy as a reason why she chose not to run for the Liberal leadership.

Champagne also announces he will not run

Industry Minister Champagne announced Tuesday, in a speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto, that he does not plan to run.

“I will dedicate my energy to defend Canada, to defend Canadians, to defend Canadian businesses,” Champagne said, amid a conversation with journalist Amanda Lang otherwise focused on emerging technologies, supply chains, critical minerals, and Canada-U.S. relations. “It was probably one of the most difficult decisions in my life, but I think it’s the right one at the right time.”

Champagne also said he plans to attend the inauguration of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump next week, while the future commander-in-chief’s threat of blanket 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports continues to loom large.

Champagne was first elected in 2015, and was appointed to cabinet two years later.

He has since held several cabinet roles, including foreign affairs, infrastructure and communities, and international trade. As minister of innovation, science and industry since 2021, Champagne has been a member of Trudeau’s key economic team.

He is also co-chair of the so-called “Team Canada” approach to the incoming U.S. administration.

Referring to the last few weeks and months in Canadian politics as a “storm,” Champagne went on to say what it’s facing with the incoming Trump administration is “like a hurricane.”

“And therefore, all eyes and all hands on deck to make sure that we either prevent — although it looks less likely — or we prepare for what the Trump administration may impose in terms of tariffs on Canada,” he said. “And duty first.”

Before entering politics, Champagne held a senior role with the Swedish-Swiss multinational automation company ABB Group.

Gould to launch campaign this week: source

Government House Leader Gould, meanwhile, is expected to launch her bid for Liberal leader this week, a source tells CTV News.

She wants to run a campaign focused on affordability and younger Canadians, according to a source close to her campaign.

Speaking to reporters following an event in Burlington on Tuesday, Gould said she’ll “have more to say in the coming days.”

“But what I do hear from Canadians right across the country is they are looking for someone who understands what Canadians are going through right now and understands the pressures that Canadian families are facing,” she said.

Gould, who was first elected in 2015 as the MP for Burlington, has headed up a handful of cabinet portfolios since. In 2018, she made history as the first cabinet minister to take maternity leave.

Before she was elected, Gould worked as a trade and investment specialist for the Mexican Trade Commission in Toronto and as a consultant in the U.S. She has a master’s degree from the University of Oxford in England.

Who else is running?

She will join backbench MPs Jaime Battiste and Chandra Arya and former MP Frank Baylis on the list of contenders who’ve officially announced their intention to run.

Freeland — Canada’s former finance minister and deputy prime minister who stepped down from Trudeau’s cabinet in a stunning resignation letter last month — is also set to announce her leadership run within the week, sources close to her tell CTV News.

Those sources say Freeland will make her announcement “close to” Trump’s inauguration, along with her first policy plank and dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs.

Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, is also set to announce a run, with dozens of MPs lined up to support him, according to a source close to him.

Two sources tell CTV News the former central banker is expected to begin his campaign in Edmonton, his hometown.

Liberal leadership hopefuls must declare their intentions to run by Jan. 23. The Liberals are set to announce their new leader after a truncated race on March 9.

With files from CTV News' Mike Le Couteur, Rachel Aiello, Brennan MacDonald and Vassy Kapelos