Karina Gould is a force to be reckoned with. If Liberal voters actually want a future that will reflect the best elements of the Trudeau era, they should vote Gould, writes Sheila Copps.
By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on March 3, 2025.
OTTAWA—Karina Gould, who I endorse for leader, blew everyone out of the water in the English Liberal leadership debate last week.
In her own words, repeatedly, she is not Conservative light.
Why is that important? Because contrary to the media crowning of Mark Carney, this is actually a race for the hearts and minds of Liberals.
Many Liberals are extremely happy with the legacy left by the team of outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The list of accomplishments is long. Trudeau will be viewed as the most progressive prime minister in my lifetime.
Universal childcare, school food programs, dental care, reconciliation, educational parity for Indigenous children, real action on climate change, hiking seniors’ benefits, managing a pandemic with amongst the lowest death rates in the G7, heavy investments in mass transit as part of the fight against global warming, taking the lead in housing for the first time in 30 years, signing a health agreement that will force provinces finally to share critical data, the first ever gender-equal cabinet—I could go on, but you get my point.
For Liberals who believe that public life is a chance to do something for the betterment of all, Trudeau’s record has proven it in spades.
Of course, he was unpopular in the end, and his decision to leave was the right one. Anyone who has studied politics knows that three terms is the maximum in the modern age as politics is the only profession where the more experience you get the more people want to get rid of you. The only governments that extend beyond that are dictatorships where public money is spent to massage the image of the leader, and opponents are either jailed or murdered.
In that context, don’t be surprised to see a move to end the two-term limit imposed on American presidents. At the latest meeting of Conservative zealots in the United States, President Donald Trump’s pardoned friend Steve Bannon gave a speech promoting presidency for life status for Trump which ended in a Nazi salute.
Given the U.S. vote at the United Nations, refusing to condemn Russia for the illegal invasion of Ukraine, anything can happen.
Much of the two Liberal debates in French and English focussed on how to fight Trump, and the stormy seas ahead under his watch.
Chrystia Freeland positioned herself as the Trump-beater, and given that the American president has personally singled her out when attacking Canada, she has the credibility to back up that claim.
But this election is not just about Trump.
Carney has made it clear that he wants to move the party to the right, and he took some swings at the current government for too much spending.
That approach will definitely appeal to Conservatives who can’t support Pierre Poilievre’s “broken” vision of Canada.
But for Liberals to win the next election, they will need to draw the majority of their support from liberally minded New Democrats.
Recent polls focusing on the post-Trudeau Liberal surge have confirmed that the majority of the shift is coming from left-wing voters who are returning to the Liberals.
If they think the party has a Conservative-light leader, the door will open for Jagmeet Singh to reassert himself in the same way that Jack Layton did during the Orange Crush that almost brought the New Democrats to government.
So the election of a Liberal leader who is focused on moving to the right may not be the best bet for the party.
By all accounts, Gould was the clear debate winner in English, and had the greatest of ease in French.
It was obvious to all that Carney needs work in that department, and Freeland is also not as convincing in French.
By articulating a clear difference with Carney, Gould has managed to vault herself into a fray which previously included only the two so-called front-runners.
Gould is a force to be reckoned with. If Liberal voters actually want a future that will reflect the best elements of the Trudeau era, they should vote Gould.
That includes support for the carbon rebate, which was destroyed by Poilievre’s sloganeering.
Trudeau refused to spend any government money explaining what the program involved because early in his first term, he opted out of advertising. That was a dumb mistake which cost the Liberals dearly.
But the program itself is sound, and the fact that Gould defended it as vociferously as she did—while all others were running away—is another point in her favour.
She is a truly liberal Liberal.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.
