‘This is a partnership:’ Champagne endorses Carney for Liberal leader

Industry Minister Francois Philippe Champagne speaks on why he is endorsing Mark Carney in the Liberal leadership race.

Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne is officially endorsing Mark Carney to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister and Liberal leader, saying he will be working “very closely” with the leadership contender.

“This is more than an endorsement.f This is a partnership,” Champagne said in an interview with CTV Question Period airing Sunday.

CTV News confirmed the endorsement last week, but Champagne made it official at an event with Carney on Sunday in Shawinigan, Que.

Asked by host Vassy Kapelos why he is choosing to support Carney over his former longtime cabinet colleague Chrystia Freeland, Champagne said he has “a lot of respect for Chrystia,” but Carney shares his “same vision for Canada.”

“I think this is going to be a mighty economic team, because both of us together, we’re very complementary,” Champagne said. “He brings his experience as a central banker, which we’ll need. This is (an) unprecedented time in the history of Canada.”

As the former Bank of Canada governor, Carney has often been credited in part for helping the country through the 2008-09 recession, and later served as the Bank of England governor while the U.K. navigated Brexit and its economic fallout.

Champagne - who was considered a frontrunner in the leadership race until he announced he would not be running two weeks ago - is the latest cabinet minister to publicly endorse Carney.

On Saturday, Defence Miniser Bill Blair, Transport and Internal Trade Minister Anita Anand and Housing Minister Nate Erskine-Smith backed Carney.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan, Employment Minister Steven MacKinnon and Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu are among the others supporting the former central banker.

Carney currently has more cabinet support compared to Freeland.

Is Carney an outsider?

Since launching his campaign, Carney has tried to position himself as an outsider, despite his ties to the Trudeau government.

In 2020, Trudeau tapped the long-time economist as an “informal adviser” on the federal government’s pandemic recovery plan. Then, last summer, Trudeau told reporters that he had been talking to Carney about joining federal politics, and in September, he appointed the former central banker to be a special economic adviser to the Liberal party.

Asked how Carney can pitch himself to Canadians as an agent of change – even with support from prominent members of the Trudeau government – Champagne insisted he’s “bringing a fresh look.”

“I think we’re very complementary, and the fact that he’s been attracting a number of colleagues speaks also to the fact that he knows how to assemble a team to deliver for Canada.”

When pressed again by Kapelos whether Carney can deliver a different message than Trudeau, Champagne insisted “we’re going to do things differently.”

“There’s things that we’re going to change,” Champagne said. “There’s a chapter which is closing with Prime Minister Trudeau. This is a new era. This is a new book, starting.”

Whoever wins the Liberal leadership could face an early election soon, with opposition parties saying they will bring the minority government down at the earliest opportunity, once Parliament returns from prorogation on March 24.

The new leader is also facing an uphill battle, with the Liberals significantly trailing the Conservatives in the polls for more than a year. The latest numbers from Nanos Research have the Conservatives ahead by 24 points.

Former government House leader Karina Gould, Nova Scotia Liberal MP and first Indigenous candidate Jaime Battiste, and former MPs Frank Baylis and Ruby Dhalla are also in the race.

On Sunday, Ontario Liberal MP Chandra Arya said he was informed by the party that he could no longer run in the leadership race.

In a statement to social media, Arya wrote, “While I await their official communication, I am carefully considering my next steps.”

The party confirmed to CTV News that Arya is no longer a candidate and points to a section in the national leadership rules that outlines reviews of applications.

That section says in part that the party’s review committee can use discretion to determine if a potential candidate “has demonstrated (due to public statements, past improper conduct, a lack of commitment to democracy, or other reputational or legal jeopardy) that a prospective candidate is manifestly unfit for the office of Leader of the Party.”

The Liberal party is set to pick its next leader on March 9.