Some Liberal partisans will be very busy in the upcoming months. Indeed, they have to choose three leaders for their respective political party, an embarrassing situation that could have been easily averted.

Life isn’t easy for some Liberal leaders these days. First, Quebec’s Jean Charest’s departure, and now Ontario’s party leader and Premier Dalton McGuinty throwing in the towel.

Dalton McGuinty
Photo by Joshua Sherurcij, Wikimedia Commons

Here in British Columbia, as we know, times are tough for the Liberal leader. And that’s not even mentioning the federal scene, where the Liberals have been trying to revive their hay days ever since they lost in 2006.

And sure enough, McGuinty’s exit from the Liberal Party of Ontario has kick-started the rumor mill. Will he, or will he not cross over to the Federal party? In fact, his name has been on several people’s lips as potential candidate for a few months now. No doubt he would have both means and organizational skills at his disposal should he decide to do so.

In fact, his candidacy would make the race that much more interesting. With only Justin Trudeau officially at the start line, the federal party should benefit from a thought-provoking race. Dalton McGuinty’s candidacy would make life harder for Justin Trudeau, the sole lightbearer so far.

Perfectly bilingual, Dalton McGuinty has, at least on paper, the almost perfect pedigree. He also could count on a well-oiled team, built over the years while he was guiding the fate of the country’s most populous province. He also has a good handle on national dossiers. He played an important role with the Council of the federation, a club for the provinces, which was started by Jean Charest with McGuinty’s help. Basically, he would be the ideal candidate. But….

Circumstances in Ontario these days are strongly working against his candidacy. Never mind that the transition from the provincial political scene to the federal one has never been an easy one for those who attempted it. In fact, the last one who was successful in his attempt was Sir Charles Tupper, who was elected Prime Minister in 1896. Since then, four have tried but were unable to transfer their provincial success to the federal scene.

We must also face the fact that he is leaving his party in Ontario, claiming that he is no longer the man for the job. It’s hard to imagine how Ontarians would see him any differently should he go over to the federal clan.

And let’s face it, the Liberal Party’s members will want a leader capable of making important gains in Ontario. That province is a gold mine in terms of seats. Power means capital gains over there. He’ll have to ask himself whether Ontarians will be able to differentiate between his role in provincial affairs and an eventual entry on the federal scene. I don’t think that can happen.

Yet his departure is untimely for the Federal Liberal Party. It causes a third leadership race within the great Liberal family. It’s problematic on many levels. The candidates will have to knock on members’ doors in order to gather the necessary sums for a leadership campaign.

And both Quebec and Ontario are fertile grounds for such things. With leadership campaigns in both provinces, the Liberal party’s pundits must have a tough time managing their dissatisfaction. The people who are usually tempted to provide funding for Liberal leadership races are, quite frankly, thrown between three simultaneous campaigns.

All in all the federal Liberals have only themselves to blame. They have wavered too long before sounding off the start of the race. The race would be over by now had the party’s executive board not dilly-dallied so long.

Translation Monique Kroeger