By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau
And the 13th permanent leader of the federal Liberal party to be selected April 14 will be …. Justin Trudeau.
Former astronaut and MP Marc Garneau, considered the number two contender in the race, surprised political Ottawa by dropping out of the federal Liberal leadership race today and endorsing Trudeau.
He told a hastily arranged Ottawa news conference that Trudeau has an insurmountable lead in the race to lead the third party in the House of Commons at a time when the party that has governed Canada for most of its history is at an historic low ebb in parliamentary representation.
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“I’ve done the numbers,” said Garneau. “I simply can’t win.”
During the campaign, he has been critical of Trudeau’s lack of policy depth, arguing that celebrity and a famous name are not qualifications to be Liberal leader.
Today he said Trudeau has since offered some policy proposals.
But more importantly, Garneau said a survey of 6,000 Liberals showed Trudeau has 72 percent support compared to his 15 percent and single digit support for candidates Joyce Murray and Martha Hall Finlay.
“I wanted to the next leader,” said Garneau. “But numbers don’t lie. I cannot win.”
Trudeau, 41, born on Christmas Day as the first son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, has been a Montreal MP since 2008 after winning and then holding a former Bloc Québécois seat in one of Canada’s most ethnically diverse and poorest ridings.
Because of the party decision to allow “supporters” to vote without actually joining the party, Trudeau has signed up more than 100,000 supporters to the cause.
He has been supported by veteran Liberal rural-connected MPs Ralph Goodale and Wayne Easter, although Trudeau has yet to articulate detailed rural or agricultural policies.
The leadership vote result will be announced in Ottawa April 14, hours after an NDP convention wraps up in Montreal where leader Thomas Mulcair plans to argue that the 2015 election will bring his party to power over both the Conservatives and the Liberals.
