Government House leader Karina Gould has become the youngest candidate to throw her hat in the ring to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, saying she's the right person to rebuild the party.
"Canadians have lost faith in our party, and we have to earn back their trust," the 37-year-old Gould said in a video posted to social media on Saturday, noting the country is anxious about the future after several difficult years.
"We need to rebuild our party so that we can keep building our country," she said.
Gould said the party needs new leadership to "fight for everyday Canadians" – someone who has a track record of "standing up to bullies" and won’t back down.
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Gould has represented Burlington, Ont., in the House of Commons since 2015 and serves as the Liberals' House leader, which has her often facing off with ranking Conservatives during debate in Parliament.
She joins former finance minister Chrystia Freeland and former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who both declared their intentions to run for leadership over the past few days.
Freeland is billing herself as the best person to lead Canada's fight against incoming U.S. president Donald Trump, saying she's taken him on before — and won.
Freeland released her first video ad on Saturday morning, marking her first substantial effort to define her campaign since joining the Liberal leadership race on Friday.
In the video posted to social media, she said she was a "tough negotiator" in talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, and that Trump doesn't like her "very much" because Canada won that battle.
She said she left Trudeau's cabinet in December because she knows how to win the coming fight with Trump.
"Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies think they can push us around," she said over images of Trump on stage at a rally with Elon Musk. "Trump thinks we’re for sale — that he can take what isn’t his. We’re not gonna to let him."
She also took aim at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, saying "he’ll bow down to Trump and sell us out."
Freeland is planning a full campaign launch Sunday in Toronto. Gould is set to formally launch her campaign this weekend as well.
Former central banker Mark Carney launched his campaign Thursday in Edmonton.
Ottawa MP Chandra Arya and former Montreal MP Frank Baylis have both indicated they intend to run, as has Cape Breton MP Jaime Battiste.
Potential candidates only have a matter of days left to declare they will vie for the party's top job before the cutoff deadline on Thursday.
