Eileen Dooley is a talent and leadership development specialist, and a leadership coach, based in Calgary
As it stands now, the Liberals are losing support and may be lucky if they become the Official Opposition after the next election.
I wrote a column in November, 2022, headlined: “Give female leaders a fighting chance. They shouldn’t be cleaning up after the men.” Well, here we are again – twice in the past six months. First was former vice president Kamala Harris, who took over from a sadly deteriorating Joe Biden, and now former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, former house leader Karina Gould and former Brampton MP Ruby Dhalla are stepping up to clean up the mess left by their predecessor.
Why? Why do women keep doing this? My thoughts go back to former prime minister Kim Campbell, who was elected leader of the Progressive Conservatives after Brian Mulroney resigned in the wake of declining popularity. She governed for six months, then an election was called and the party was decimated. The Conservatives haven’t had a female leader since.
The big difference then was that Ms. Campbell had a majority government, giving her the chance to serve as prime minister for a short time. The next Liberal leader will likely go from sitting in the prime minister’s seat, to getting up right after losing a confidence motion to visit the Governor-General to request a dissolution of Parliament and request for an election to be held – all on the same day.
Consider Ms. Harris, who stepped in at a time of desperation, to save a sinking campaign led by a candidate who was displaying mental and physical decline, specifically during the June 27 debate with Donald Trump. Did Mr. Biden step down after numerous calls from Democrats for him to do so? No, he hung on for a month, insisting he could win a second term. Finally, after more pressure and maybe a talk with his family, he stepped down and handed the mess to Ms. Harris.
Would the party have nominated her if it had gone through its selection process of primaries and caucuses? Maybe, but we’ll never know.
Rinse and repeat for Canada, where calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign have been strongly echoed for at least the last six months. Recently, his MPs were publicly urging him to step aside. Did he? No, he disappeared for three weeks to think about things and then announced his resignation when leadership is critical as Canada may be embarking on a trade war with the United States.
The Liberal Party of Canada has never had a female leader. Three women have been candidates – Sheila Copps, Martha Hall Findlay and Karen McCrimmon – and none has come close to winning.
So, is this the right time to finally elect a female leader of the Liberal Party of Canada? No. The party will likely lose the next election regardless of who the leader is. They will have to wear that – like Ms. Campbell did in 1993 – and resign promptly (she even lost her own seat). Let this election happen, the Liberals will sink and then women should proceed to seek leadership. It is always better to have something to build, rather than something to hopelessly save.
So sit back, watch the mess get bigger and resist the urge to clean it up.