Potential contenders to replace Justin Trudeau as Canadian prime minister

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Liberal Party is looking for a new leader to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced on 6 January he intended to step down.

The Liberal Party will pick a new chief on 9 March

On Sunday, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon announced in a letter posted on X he would not enter the contest but would run in the next federal election. On Saturday, Transport Minister Anita Anand announced she was not entering and would not run in the next election.

Here are some of the remaining top potential contenders.

Former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland

Freeland, 56, was one of Trudeau's closest allies during his nine years in power and had been serving as finance minister. Freeland unexpectedly resigned in December after an argument over spending and penned a letter attacking the prime minister's leadership and his love of "political gimmicks".

Freeland, the most high-profile member of the government after Trudeau, had been finance minister since August 2020 and helped craft the government's multi-billion-dollar social spending program to help fight the COVID pandemic.

She had previously been foreign minister and led the Canadian team that successfully renegotiated a trilateral trade deal with the United States and Mexico after then-president Donald Trump threatened to tear up the agreement.

She joined the government in November 2015, first serving as trade minister. Before entering politics in 2013, Freeland worked as a journalist and in senior editorial roles with several media companies, including the Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, and Reuters where she worked from 2010 to 2013. She has also written two books.

Former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney

Carney, 59, is the only major candidate who is not part of the Trudeau government. Carney's name has been circulating for years as a potential Liberal leader, largely thanks to his financial credentials. Carney said in a statement on Monday that he would be considering whether to run over the next few days.

He worked for Goldman Sachs before joining the Canadian finance ministry in 2004. He was named Bank of Canada governor in 2007 and quickly had to deal with the after-effects of the global crisis in 2008. In 2013 he took over as governor of the Bank of England, becoming the first person to ever head two major central banks.

Carney forecast the economic damage that would result if Britain left the European Union, prompting attacks from pro-Brexit advocates. After leaving the bank in 2020, he was appointed United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance. He is currently vice chairman at Brookfield Asset Management.

Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne

Champagne, 54, is a trusted pair of hands who worked as a lawyer and a businessman before joining the government in 2015. Known for his ebullient manner and perpetual good humor, he served variously as minister of trade, infrastructure and foreign affairs before taking over his current role in January 2021. As innovation minister, Champagne led the effort to attract billions of dollars in foreign investment into the electric vehicle and auto battery sector. The effort has recently faltered in many parts of the world including Canada.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson

Wilkinson, 59, a former businessman who spent years working for green technology companies, served as environment minister from 2019-2021 before taking up his current role. Wilkinson has had to strike a balance between acting as a defender for the sector while also working in a government that wants to cut oil and gas sector emissions. He also pushed to ease the permitting process for mining companies so that it does not take several years to get a new project off the ground.

Other contenders

Other possible contenders mentioned in the domestic media include current House leader Karina Gould, 37, and former British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, 59.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Ed White; Editing by Caroline Stauffer, Deepa Babington and Lisa Shumaker)