Canada | Who will be the new prime minister? Two women on pole

There are two women among the leading candidates to succeed Justin Trudeau,who today announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party and as Prime Minister of Canada, a position he will however leave when the process for choosing the new number 1 of the party is concluded. The first is Chrystia Freeland,former deputy prime minister and finance minister, whose sensational exit from Trudeau’s government – complete with the publication of the resignation letter in which he stated that he was leaving due to differences on how to deal with the threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs – in December exacerbated the serious crisis that the prime minister was experiencing, thus leading him to today’s decision.

The 56-year-old former journalist, born in the province of Alberta to a Ukrainian mother, has been in Trudeau’s government since 2015, two years after he entered Parliament, holding various positions. As Foreign Minister in 2019 she led the negotiations for the new NAFTA wanted by Trump to regulate free trade between the USA, Canada and Mexico. A role that must not have been appreciated by the tycoon who, appreciating his exit from the Trudeau government, defined it as “toxic”.

The other possible candidate is Anita Anand,a 57-year-old lawyer who entered politics in 2019 and is now Minister of Transportation, after being appointed Minister of Defense in 2021, a position from which she led Canada’s first efforts to provide military aid to Ukraine after the Russian invasion.

A third name is that of the former president of the Canadian central bank, Mark Carney. whom Trudeau recently tried to enlist for his government team, calling him “an extraordinary addition at a time when Canadians need good people entering politics.” The 59-year-old has acted as a special advisor to the prime minister in recent months and has long been considered a candidate for the post of party leader.

As a candidate in the next elections, it could create problems if Carney, who was also the UN special envoy for climate action, is considered the champion of the Liberal government’s choices on climate and the environment, which are strongly attacked by conservatives. Pierre Poilievre, currently widely leading in the polls.