Federal Liberal Leadership Race

I think I am going to sign up as a supporter so that I can vote in the race.   I take every chance that I can to vote in any election that I can.   The odds of me voting for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2015 election is remote because I am not convinced the party understands the changes they need to make and in the Victoria riding they are not likely to be a relevant factor or have a strong candidate.

Now who am I going to support?

I will take my decision seriously and vote for who I think would be the best leader of the Liberals, I think it is important for all parties to have strong leaders to ensure they do their best in elections.   It is not good for us in Canada if governments are elected because the other parties are weak or badly run.

I suspect that the race will be won by Justin Trudeau and that many of the candidates will drop out of the race over the next few months.   I think it would be a huge mistake for the Liberals to choose Trudeau to be leader, he will not end up being seen as a serious politician by the media by the end of 2013 and his gaffes as leader will sink the party.

Here is my initial take on who I could support

Tier One - these three have the skills to be a national party leader

• Martha Hall Findlay - She ran in the 2006 leadership race and came last though not miles behind Joe Volpe or Scott Brison.  She was an MP for only three years.
• Joyce Murray - She is the only person running who has been elected at the provincial level having served one term in the BC legislature and was a member of the Gordon Campbell cabinet.  She has been an MP for almost five years
• Mark Garneau - Never been in cabinet and is almost 64 years old, a bit old to be leader after only just over four years in politics

Tier Two - these three have some aspects that are good but in general they lack too much to be leader of the Liberals.

• Martin Cauchon - A forgettable Chretien era cabinet minister though the only person running who has been in a federal cabinet
• Justin Trudeau - A middle aged man who is on the national scene because of who his father was and not because of any personal skills or experience.
• Deborah Coyne - She is almost tier three in my opinion

Tier Three - none of these three have been elected to anything before, choosing to be leader of the Liberals is simply crazy.   They should drop out now for the benefit of the party.  Nine candidates are too many

• George Takach
• David Bertschi
• Karen McCrimmon

When I look over the list, it is really hard for me to be excited about any of them.   None of them is really the right person to lead the Liberals.  I have singed up as a supporter and I will vote, but the choices are not really very inspiring to me.