OTTAWA – B.C. New Democratic Party MP Peter Julian, who had been widely expected to enter the party’s leadership race, announced Tuesday he won’t be a candidate.
Five MPs had already publicly supported the candidacy of the fluently bilingual MP for Burnaby-New Westminster, and he said a dozen in total were prepared to back him.
But Julian said Tuesday he has concluded he wouldn’t be able to organize a strong enough team of experienced organizers to run a winning campaign.
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He said front-runner Brian Topp’s recruitment of veteran NDP MP Libby Davies, who endorsed Topp on Friday, was a factor in his decision.
Davies, one of the party’s deputy leaders, has a strong following among young environmental and anti-globalization activists – the same pool of potential supporters Julian, a former top official at the Council of Canadians and a harsh critic of Canada’s free-trade agreements, would have targeted.
But he said he’s convinced the race will be “competitive” and include as many as 10 candidates when votes are cast in March.
The current candidates are Topp, Ottawa MP Paul Dewar, Quebec MP Romeo Saganash, B.C. MP Nathan Cullen, and Nova Scotian party activist Martin Singh.
Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair was once viewed as Layton’s heir-apparent, but Topp has recruited a team of party establishment figures that includes former leader Ed Broadbent, former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow, and several top party figures in B.C., where roughly a third of the party’s members are based.
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