Liberal Party of Canada announces date of leadership vote

Liberal Party of Canada announces date of leadership vote

January 9, 2025

Ottawa, ON - The Liberal Party of Canada, today, announced that the nation-wide race to choose the next Leader of the party will conclude on March 9, 2025.

"After a robust and secure nation-wide process, the Liberal Party of Canada will choose a new leader on March 9, and be ready to fight and win the 2025 election," said Sachit Mehra, President of the Liberal Party of Canada. "This is a time for Liberals across the country to exchange ideas and engage in thoughtful debate to shape the future of our party and our country - and I encourage all Liberals to get involved in this exciting moment for our party."

The National Board of Directors formally met this evening to discuss and outline the initial rules of the up-coming leadership race. In accordance with the Liberal Party of Canada's Constitution, the National Board made the following decisions:

• The Leadership vote will conclude on March 9, 2025, at which point the new leader will be announced on the same day. Per the party's constitution, the cut-off date to become a Registered Liberal and be eligible to vote in the leadership race will be January 27, 2025. The Party must publicly post the registration procedures for a Leadership vote 27 days before the date of the vote.
• The entrance fee for a candidate to join the leadership race will be $350,000. A leadership contestant must declare their participation in the race by January 23, 2025.
• Suzanne Cowan, Past President of the Party, and Marc-Etienne Vien, LPC(Q) Director, will co-chair the Leadership Vote Committee. This committee will be responsible to plan and organize the Leadership vote, and will start to meet in the coming days to finalize the remaining procedures of the vote.
• MP Patricia Lattanzio and John Herhalt, Chair of the Federal Liberal Agency of Canada, will co-chair the Leadership Expense Committee. This committee will adopt Leadership Expense Rules for the leadership race, as well as set a maximum expense limit. They will begin meeting in the coming days to finalize these procedures.

Protecting the integrity of our democratic process, while still engaging as many people as possible, is one of the Liberal Party of Canada's top priorities. The National Board also made the decision to update the requirements for becoming and maintaining status as a Registered Liberal. To be a Registered Liberal, a person must:

• be at least fourteen (14) years of age;
• support the purposes of the party;
• be a Canadian citizen, have status under the Indian Act, or be a permanent resident of Canada.
• not be a member of any other federal political party in Canada; and
• while Registered as a Liberal, not have publicly declared an intention to be a candidate for election to the House of Commons other than as a candidate of the Party.

The Liberal Party of Canada looks forward to running a secure, fair, and national race that will elect the next Leader of the party. For more details on the Leadership race, please visit our website: lpc.ca/2025leadership

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:
[email protected]
613-627-2384