When Indo-Canadian Mehra polls for Trudeau’s successor, Anita Anand may emerge as a compromise candidate

As Liberal Party President Sachit Mehra conducts the election to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, another Indo-Canadian may emerge as a compromise candidate to lead the nation.

In announcing he was leaving the prime ministership, Trudeau did not name a successor but said he was entrusting Mehra with a “robust, nationwide competitive process” to choose the next leader.

Unlike in India, where members of the ruling party’s lower house of parliament elect the prime minister, the Liberal Party’s rules allow anyone who registers as a party member to participate in the election.

Membership, up to 300,000, is also open to non-citizens, including international students, who could all participate in the election, and the eligibility age is only 14.

The winner must poll at least 50 percent of the vote, and multiple rounds of voting may be required before a candidate crosses the threshold.

Mehra has said he will call a meeting of the party’s board this week to set the election date and appoint a committee to lead it.

The rules call for a 90-day campaign, but the leadership can shorten it and there could be a push to finish the election by March 24, when parliament next meets.

No one has yet formally announced that they are running for the party’s leadership.

Whoever becomes prime minister will have a short term as the Liberal Party has just 153 members in the 338-member House of Commons, short of the 170 needed for a majority, and has limped along with the support of the New Democratic Party, whose leader Jagmeet Singh has withdrawn support for it.

Opposition parties have said they will table a vote of no confidence when parliament reconvenes in March.

In an election – regardless of whether it is in October under the deadline or earlier – the opposition Conservative Party has a massive lead in the opinion polls.

The Ipsos poll showed the Conservatives with a massive 25 per cent lead, with 45 per cent support compared to the Liberals’ 20 per cent last month.

Likely front-runners in the race to succeed Trudeau are Chrystia Freeland, who was forced out by him by removing her finance portfolio, Trudeau’s close friend Dominic LeBlanc, who was named to replace Freeland, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, who led the diplomatic charge. against India, and economist and banker Mark Carney, who has the unique distinction of having been governor of the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada.

Against this list of big-name front-runners with their established bases, Transport Minister Anita Anand has emerged as a candidate who could bridge the factions and emerge the winner, working her way through rounds of voting to the 50 percent mark.

Appointed Minister of Public Services and Procurement in 2019, Anand quickly made his mark during the Covid pandemic with an aggressive strategy to meet the country’s need for medical equipment, which was in short supply globally, and vaccines, including from India.

After the 2021 election, she became Minister of Defense and one of her first tasks was to deal with sexual harassment and discrimination in the armed forces.

She led Canada’s efforts to help Ukraine fight Russia’s invasion, providing both material support and training.

Anand was moved in a cabinet reshuffle to become president of the Finance Council, a ministerial-level post that generally oversees government operations.

Last year she became transport minister and added the internal trade portfolio.

Her father is from Tamil Nadu and her mother is from Punjabi, both doctors who worked in the Nova Scotia province where she was born.

Anand, 57, is a lawyer educated at Oxford and Dalhousie University in Canada.

New Delhi-born Mehra grew up in Winnipeg, where he became a businessman involved in running the family’s restaurant business.

In 2023, he was elected party president, a role focused on organizational issues, separate from that of party leader, who automatically leads the party in parliament, and became prime ministerial leader of the opposition.

He was charged with developing the strategy for this year’s election amid the party’s declining prospects.

Of the leading candidates, Joly has a history of open hostility towards India after expelling top Indian diplomats from Canada.