John Manley Encouraged to re-enter race

Important part left in context near end of article


Rae speaks today, and Liberals are listening
Ex-NDP premier not expected to formally announce leadership bid yet
But Winnipeg address raises profile in a crowded field of potential rivals
Mar. 13, 2006. 01:00 AM
SEAN GORDON
OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA—So far it's a race with only one entrant, but Liberal leadership watchers will cast an interested eye toward Winnipeg today as former Ontario premier Bob Rae returns to the limelight with a speech to the Canadian Club.

Few expect Rae will formally signal his intentions — some senior Liberals suggest he will first come out and publicly brand himself as a party supporter — but many will be keen to hear what the former provincial NDP leader has to say about his vision for the country.

"He's in. Everybody basically knows that. Now it's a question of him talking about where he would take the party and the country," said a senior Liberal close to the leadership process.

By most counts, there are at least 16 people actively considering leadership runs, though the only official candidate is 46-year-old lawyer Martha Hall Findlay.

Some Liberals are predicting the wide-open race will heal much of the lingering rift between supporters of former prime minister Jean Chrétien and those of the man who ousted him, Paul Martin.

"It's going to be a campaign of new ideas," said Liberal Senator Jim Munson, a former Chrétien aide.

Rae would benefit from support within the Liberal establishment — his brother John ran Chrétien's campaigns, and former PMO adviser Eddie Goldenberg is a lifelong friend — and could be pitted against his old University of Toronto roommate, Etobicoke-Lakeshore MP Michael Ignatieff.

Many of the Liberal hopefuls, including Ignatieff, were in Nova Scotia earlier this month for what Findlay termed "the unofficial kickoff" of the race.

Former Tory leadership candidate and Liberal cabinet minister Belinda Stronach is organizing aggressively in Quebec and elsewhere in the country, and is widely expected to enter the race. Others mulling a bid include Stronach's former Ontario cabinet colleagues Joe Volpe, Carolyn Bennett, Ken Dryden, Tony Ianno and John Godfrey.

One-time ministers like Ralph Goodale, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Stéphane Dion, Denis Coderre and Hedy Fry are also weighing their options, as is Ottawa Liberal MP David McGuinty.

Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy is also an intriguing possibility — he's bilingual and originally from Manitoba — although he hasn't been convinced to take the plunge.

It was expected former public works minister Scott Brison would be the leading Atlantic Canadian candidate, but party sources said his fundraising potential has been curtailed by last week's imbroglio over an email sent to a Bay Street acquaintance ahead of an income-trust announcement last fall.

Other candidacies remain in the realm of rumours. Former deputy prime minister John Manley, for instance, is facing pressure to reconsider his earlier refusal to run.

The list will continue shifting as the hopefuls jockey for position. The Liberal party's executive will determine the timing and rules for the race at a meeting on the weekend of March 25.