The race to succeed Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister is increasingly looking like a two-way battle between former finance minister Chrystia Freeland and ex-central banker Mark Carney.
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The field further narrowed on Tuesday after Christy Clark, the former premier of British Columbia, announced she would not be entering the Liberal Party leadership contest, in part due to her lack of fluency in French. Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne also bowed out of the race.
Liberals will decide on a new leader by March 9, which gives the winner of the contest about two weeks before Parliament returns. They can call an election immediately themselves, or else the government is expected to fall on a non-confidence vote soon afterwards, triggering one regardless.
Many other senior cabinet ministers who were expected to be contenders have already ruled themselves out, including Dominic LeBlanc, Melanie Joly, Anita Anand and Steven MacKinnon.
There are others who are said to be weighing bids, including government House Leader Karina Gould and Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
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