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François-Philippe Champagne not running for Liberal leadership

Click to play video: '‘Most difficult decision’: Champagne says he will not be running in Liberal Party race'
‘Most difficult decision’: Champagne says he will not be running in Liberal Party race
 
WATCH: “I will dedicate my energy to defend Canada,” Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said on Tuesday. “It was probably the most difficult decision in my life, but I think it was the right one at the right time.”

François-Philippe Champagne, a high-profile federal cabinet minister from Quebec and trusted ally of Justin Trudeau, will not make a bid to succeed the prime minister in the upcoming Liberal leadership race.

Champagne made the announcement Tuesday as part of a fireside chat at the Canadian Club Toronto.

He joins several Liberal heavyweights long-considered potential leadership contenders but who have decided not to join the race to elect a new leader on March 9.

Champagne called the decision not to run “one of the most difficult decisions” of his life, but the “right one at the right time.”

He thanked Canadians and Liberal supporters who reached out to encourage him to run.

But after speaking at length during the fireside chat with journalist Amanda Lang about the economic threat of tariffs floated by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, he said he would dedicate his energy “to defend Canada, to defend Canadians, to defend Canadian businesses.”

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Laing asked Champaign whether he planned to run in the next federal election, slated for no later than October of this year, but he would not commit to run.

“It was a very tough decision,” not to seek the leadership, he said. “But one thing I can say to you and all Canadians who are watching, I’ll be fighting every single day for Canada in whatever capacity, because that’s the country I love.”

Champagne said Canada will need to have its “elbows up” heading into the second Trump administration and remind officials south of the border about Canada’s value as a “strategic partner.”

“We’ve been there before. So in a sense, we have the experience, we have the expertise to do that. You don’t want to escalate, but you want to respond,” he said.

Champagne also said he will be part of a Canadian delegation attending Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20.

Who is François-Philippe Champagne?

Champagne, 54, was first elected as a member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Maurice—Champlain in 2015. He’s since held a variety of portfolios in the Trudeau cabinet, including international trade, infrastructure and foreign affairs.

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As of 2021, Champagne serves as the minister of innovation, science and industry. He’s spearheaded a number of efforts to make Canadian companies more competitive and in hopes of translating that into lower prices for consumers.

Click to play video: 'New AI safety institute launched by feds, Champagne announces'
New AI safety institute launched by feds, Champagne announces

Champagne was the face of the Liberal government’s efforts to bring the heads of Canada’s biggest grocery stores to the table in the fall of 2023, looking to extract pledges from food executives to work with Ottawa to ease the burden on shoppers after years of rampant inflation.

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Ottawa then struck a grocery task force in hopes of cracking down on practices such as “shrinkflation,” and Champagne has publicly stated he’s been trying to court international grocers to come to Canada to compete with established players — there’s been no recent news on that front, however.

He has also touted changes made in 2023 giving sharper teeth to Canada’s Competition Bureau, allowing the watchdog to compel documents from the companies the office was investigating.

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The Competition Bureau has since launched a market study into the airline industry and has flexed these new powers to obtain information from Air Canada and WestJet as part of the probe.

As the industry minister, Champagne has held final approval on a number of high-profile mergers in Canada. That includes Rogers Communications’ merger with Shaw Communications, the close of a long-drawn out process that saw the two telecom giants merge in 2023.

Liberal leadership race takes shape

While he is not entering the leadership race himself, Champagne did say he would be watching the contest closely. He said the campaign should include a French-language debate, adding it’s important that the next Liberal leader and prime minister of Canada be bilingual and represent all regions of the country.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, former B.C. Liberal premier Christy Clark confirmed she is not running for the federal party’s leadership.

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Liberal House Leader Karina Gould is preparing to announce she’s entering the race this week, a source close to Gould confirmed to Global News.

Quebec businessman and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis and current Liberal backbencher Chandra Arya have put their names forward in the leadership campaign, while Liberal MP Jaime Battiste has said he is exploring a potential run

Over the weekend, Liberal ministers Anita Anand and Steve MacKinnon confirmed they will not run for the leadership, joining Dominic LeBlanc and Melanie Joly on the sidelines of the race.

Former finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland is preparing to enter the race in the coming week, according to a report from The Canadian Press citing a source. Global News has reached out to Freeland’s team but has not confirmed that report.

Mark Carney, the former central banker and economic adviser to Trudeau, also appeared to tease a leadership run in an appearance on The Daily Show Monday.

Candidates must secure an entrance fee of $350,000 to formally vie for the Liberal leadership, according to rules published by the party last week. The deadline for declaring candidacy is Jan. 23.

Click to play video: '‘A wild hypothetical’: Carney hints at Liberal leadership run during ‘The Daily Show’ appearance'
‘A wild hypothetical’: Carney hints at Liberal leadership run during ‘The Daily Show’ appearance

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