CHANDIGARH: The Indian origin Member of Parliament of Liberal Party and Transport Minister Anita Anand has opted out of Canada's prime ministerial race as she announced that she would not seek re-election as Member of Parliament and return back to her profession.
Also Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc have decided to quit the race to succeed Justin Trudeau. Transport Minister Anand stated that she was following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's example and will start her career's next chapter by returning to academia. She made this announcement on X as she posted her statement on the social media platform.
"Today I am announcing that I will not be entering the race to become the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and will not be seeking re-election as Member of Parliament for Oakville. I will continue to honorably execute my roles as a public officer holder until the next election.’’
"Prior seeking public office I was a lawyer and law professor for over twenty years most recently at the faculty of law university of Toronto where I took a leave of absence, intending to return one day to academia. The joy and fulfillment that I take in our current work collaborating with Prime Minister, my cabinet colleagues, our caucus and the broader team-delayed this decision. Now thatt the Prime Minister has made his decision to move to his next chapter, I have determined the time is right for me to do the same, and to return to my prior professional life of teaching, research, and public policy analyses," the statement read.
It further added, "During my first campaign, many people told me that a woman of Indian descent would not get elected in Oakville, Ontario. Yet, Oakville rallied behind me not once but twice since 2019, an honour that I will hold in my heart forever. Back in 2019, I could never have imagined that such work would mean navigating supply chains to overcome a global pandemic, addressing sexual assault in the Canadian Armed Forces, ensuring military aid reached Ukraine, overseeing the Treasury Board Secretariat or reinforcing Canada's Transportation systems. While this chapter of my life has become challenging it has become tremendously fullflling to deliver results for Canadian by working collaboratively.’’
She was also the visiting lecturer at Yale University in the US before plunging into politics and becoming the MP from Oakville in Ontario in 2019.
Also, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc have decided to quit the race to succeed Justin Trudeau who announced last week his decision to resign. Thus now the likely front-runners are former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland and central banker Mark Carney.
Indian-origin Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Nepean Chandra Arya is also one of the contenders to replace Trudeau as he had some time back announced that he would join the race to become the next Prime Minister of Canada.
"Over the past week, I have spoken with dozens of friends, colleagues and close advisors; many of whom have encouraged me to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. While I know I am ready to become the first woman to lead the Liberal Party of Canada, I must also recognise that the current international situation, especially the unjustified threat of tariffs and other economic pressures from the President-elect of the United States, requires a firm and urgent response. This is happening now. As minister of foreign affairs, I must dedicate every minute of my time and all my energy to defesding the interests of Canadians. Which is exactly what Iam doing and will continue to do ," Joly wrote on X.