Former journalist Evan Solomon to run for the federal Liberals in next election

Former journalist Evan Solomon will announce Thursday that he will be running to be an MP for the Liberal Party in the next federal election, according to a source.

Former journalist Evan Solomon has announced he will be running to be an MP for the Liberal party in the next federal election.

Solomon revealed the news in a LinkedIn post on Thursday afternoon, confirming a report from CTV News earlier in the day.

“Given the urgent challenges and threats facing Canadians right now, I’ve decided it’s the right time to come home and do whatever I can to help serve my community and country,” Solomon wrote.

Solomon most recently worked for the Eurasia Group as the publisher for GZERO Media – a position he started in the fall of 2022. He was also recently a special correspondent with CTV News, but resigned from that role prior to Prime Minister Mark Carney being elected as Liberal party leader on March 9.

Previously, Solomon worked at Bell Media from 2016 to 2022, first as the host of Ottawa Now on 580 CFRA and later as the host of CTV News political programs Question Period and Power Play. During that time, he also hosted The Evan Solomon Show, a nationally syndicated radio program on the iHeart Radio network.

Before that, he was the host of CBC’s daily political show Power & Politics and weekly national radio program The House.

In June 2015, he was let go from the CBC after the Toronto Star reported that he allegedly took commissions for brokering art sales involving people whom he also dealt with as a journalist. According to that report, some of the alleged art sales involved Carney and Research in Motion founder Jim Balsillie.

Following the report, Solomon denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement at the time that he “did not view the art business as a conflict with my political journalism at the CBC and never intentionally used my position at the CBC to promote the business.”

Solomon’s foray into federal politics comes with a snap election set to be called on Sunday, according to sources. The sources also say a final decision on whether election day will be April 28 or May 5 has yet to be decided, but an announcement will be made shortly. The House of Commons was set to return on March 24 after being prorogued since January.

According to the latest Nanos Research survey – released Tuesday – the Conservatives are leading by just one point with 35 per cent of federal voting intention, while the Liberals sit at 34 per cent. Before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation and Trump’s inauguration, many polls at the start of the year showed the Liberals behind the Conservatives by more than 20 points.

That same survey says Trump and U.S. relations is the top issue of national concern at 26.8 per cent, followed by jobs and the economy at 16.7 per cent.