Canada’s Liberal Party to elect new leader on March 9

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) - Canada’s Liberal Party will elect a new leader on March 9, who will assume the mantle of prime minister following Justin Trudeau's resignation.

In a late Thursday news release, the party outlined its leader election rules, which included a deadline of Jan. 23 for names to be submitted and an entry fee of CAN$350,000 (approximately US$243,000) to participate.

New rules adopted for those who can vote have been changed. A person must join the Liberal Party by Jan. 27 and be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident with an age requirement of 14 or older. Previously, 14-year-olds could vote.

Last week, Trudeau bowed to intense pressure from the Liberal Party to step down, and the new leader will automatically become the prime minister and Liberal Party leader.

Various names are being bandied about to assume Trudeau’s mantle, with some senior Cabinet ministers and others sitting on the fence while they gauge support.

Names include former British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, former Bank of Canada head Mark Carney, former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, House of Commons Leader Karina Gould, Employment Minister Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, and Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.​​​​​​​

Parliament is currently prorogued until March 24, and all three opposition parties said that upon resumption they will vote the Liberal government down, plunging the country into a federal election.