Two friends from Alberta, both with strong careers abroad and similar circles, are in the running to replace Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party and Canada, just as the country faces a generational crisis because of the Trump administration prices and threats of sovereignty.
Some 400,000 members of the Liberal Party have been eligible to vote in the major leadership race of their party to decide who will succeed Mr. Trudeau and mark a new era in Canadian politics. Whoever wins will have to call a general election, which must be held by October, but could take place earlier.
The election results will be announced at a special event in Ottawa, the capital, around 6.30 p.m. Sunday.
Who are the candidates?
The race is between Mark Carney, 59, the former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England and an eminent green investor, and the former Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, 56, whose resignation triggered Mr. Trudeau’s decision to resign. The surveys have shown that Mr. Carney is the front journey.
A third candidate, Karina Gould, 37, tried to make her mark as future party leader, differentiating from the other two as more spoken and more on the left. Frank Baylis, 62, businessman and former deputy, is also underway.
Ms. Freeland and Mr. Carney share similar history and are both considered as technically competent centrists with a preference for tax discipline.
Freeland has had a successful career in international journalism but was an eminent politician in Canada for 10 years. His file as Minister of Finance and, previously, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is closely examined. Ms. Freeland’s detractors hold her responsible for not having taken into account Mr. Trudeau, under whom she served, when her policies have become increasingly unpopular.
She tried to reintroduce herself to the Canadian public as a more candidate for the base who listened to criticism and will abandon unpopular policies such as Mr. Trudeau’s tax on carbon emissions.
And she presented herself as the best person to resist President Trump as he launches prices against Canada, as well as threats to the country’s sovereignty. Mr. Trump is home to a strong aversion to Ms. Freeland – having called her “toxic”, “a blow” and “incompetent” in recent months.
Freeland managed to renegocate the North Atlantic free trade agreement on behalf of Canada during Mr. Trump’s first term. The treaty links Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Ms. Freeland is married to a New York Times journalist on the culture office.
Mr. Carney, while being in the eyes of the public for a large part of his career, was not a traditional politician before applying for party leadership.
He joined the public sector as a senior official of the Ministry of Finance in 2004, serving under successive liberal and conservative governments, and was then operated to direct central banks in Canada and Great Britain.
He was congratulated on his performance in both positions, helping Canada resist the 2008 financial crisis and leading Britain through Brexit, although criticism accused him of having encouraged fear by suggesting that Brexit would harm the country’s economy.
What are their campaign promises?
Mr. Carney’s plan is focused on the stimulation of Canada’s economy, which has been hampered by inflation and low productivity. High housing costs have become a central problem in Canada and Mr. Carney is committed to building four million houses over several years.
Like Ms. Freeland, Mr. Carney also plans to throw the tax on the carbon of Mr. Trudeau and replace it with a pricing system that would require industrial polluters to pay for consumers to reduce their carbon footprints.
Ms. Freeland’s platform focuses on political areas that have become responsibilities for the Liberal Party, including the emphasis on the fight against the shortage of doctors of Canada, the increase in military spending and the fight against foreign interference in politics.
How will the day go?
The members of the Liberal Party were able to vote online after registering with the party and confirmed their identity. The vote began on February 26 and follows a classified voting system, which means that the voters classify their favorite candidates.
The system can produce surprising results if a candidate does not win squarely in the first count. Some candidates and voters have raised concerns about the voting platform, after having experienced technical problems in the identity verification process.
The results will be followed on the Liberal Party website and are expected around 6.30 p.m., the supporters will meet at the Rogers Center in Ottawa, a congress room not far from the hill of Parliament, for the announcement of the results.
Mr. Trudeau, who will cap almost a decade as Prime Minister and 13 years as the chief of the Liberals, is expected to attend.
The new chief will probably be sworn as Prime Minister during the coming week. The procedure complies with the Westminster parliamentary system, which is followed in Great Britain and elsewhere.
What happens next?
What is happening then is not entirely mapped and will partly depend on who is the new leader.
Mr. Carney is not elected and does not hold a seat in Parliament. His campaign said he would call the federal elections shortly after being appointed Prime Minister.
Freeland, who has a parliamentary seat, told New York Times in an interview she would consider if a quick election was a good idea given the continuous threat of prices and their impact on Canada’s economy.
Federal elections must be held by October in accordance with Canada’s rules. The conservative party, led by Pierre Hairy, has long maintained an advance of more than 20 points on the liberals of the polls, but the gap has ended since Mr. Trudeau announced his resignation and Mr. Trump began to make movements against Canada.
THE last vote suggests that most respondents would choose Mr. Carney to Mr. Hairy if he directed the Liberal Party in the elections. Voters would also choose Ms. Freeland compared to Mr. Hairyvre, although by a closer marginThe polls show.
The survey also shows that Canadians prefer that Mr. Carney and Ms. Freeland are negotiating with Mr. Trump to Mr. Poilievre.
