[LINK] "Trudeau, Rae don’t want permanent leadership"

[rfmcdonald]

Conservative National Post columnist John Ivison is, I think entirely right in his evaluation of the situation of the Liberal Party. No one is interested in becoming leader; attentions must be focused on the reconstruction of the party. Which, incidentally, is going to be a massive job. Which may not even be possible in time for the next election.

Justin Trudeau is understood to have told supporters that he is putting his family first and will not seek the permanent leadership of the party. Mr. Trudeau grew up in a family where his father was often absent because of his political duties and he is said to be keen to avoid history repeating itself. Mr. Trudeau could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Bob Rae is another who told supporters Thursday that he will not run for the leadership, although he will submit his name to become interim leader until the party chooses a long-term successor to Michael Ignatieff.

[. . .]

Another former leadership candidate, Scott Brison, is said to be considering a second run and is being encouraged by blue Liberals on Bay Street keen to avoid the party turning into the “NDP lite”. However, he also has personal considerations, since he and his husband Maxime are understood to be in the early process of adopting a child.

The only other serious candidates at this stage are Ottawa MP David McGuinty, who is said by one MP be “kicking the tires”, and New Brunswick’s Dominic LeBlanc, who has been organizing to become leader for two years. Gerard Kennedy has also been mentioned as being interested but he lost his Toronto seat in the House in the election and still owes $116,000 from his last leadership bid in 2006.

Muted interest in the Liberal crown stands in stark contrast to the frenetic, and sometimes bitter, contest that took place five years ago, when 12 candidates put their names forward. Then again, victory in this race does not come with an official residence or any guarantee that the media will still be listening after Jack Layton has finished grilling the Prime Minister at Question Period. “That is truly painful,” said one Grit.

It is clear to all Liberals that it will be a long time before the party is ready to challenge for government again and that some hard work is required to rebuild the party in the interim. Many Liberals argue that the massive bureaucratic infrastructure that has left the party with 13 semi-autonomous provincial and territorial wings is untenable if the party is going to challenge the streamlined Conservative and NDP machines. “But there is a Catch-22 because the vested interests who want to keep the existing structure have the votes, so anyone honest enough to say they want to blow up the structure won’t get elected,” said one former leadership candidate.

More fundamentally, there is broad recognition that the Liberal brand is so tarnished that it will take years to recast the party in the minds of Canadians. “In places where the gun registry was an issue, which is huge swathes of the country, it wasn’t so much the issue as the attitude — that ‘we know better than you do’ — which pissed people off,” said another defeated MP.