Baird closing in on leadership decision
Former Harper ally under pressure to join Conservative contest
OTTAWA— A group of allies and former staff members is preparing to help John Baird win the Conservative leadership if the former cabinet minister decides to enter the race.
Baird, who is expected to announce his intentions within days, is weighing his desire to join the race against giving up the private-sector opportunities he’s taken on since leaving politics in 2015, according to three sources familiar with his thinking.
As a prominent contender in a contest that has already turned nasty, Baird would be exposing himself to a level of scrutiny that he has not faced since leaving public life a half-decade ago.
That’s another sticking point, three sources said. One added that Baird, who was once considered an attack dog in Stephen Harper’s cabinet, believes politics has become generally nastier in the five years he’s been out of the game.
His decision is “imminent, one way or another,” said one Baird confidant, who spoke to the Star on the condition they not be named.
“I think he feels compelled to help the party and sees the country going down a very troublesome path. (He) wants the party to get in the game and compete with a real conservative vision,” said another.
Baird has been under pressure to join the contest, currently headlined by his former cabinet colleagues Peter MacKay and
Erin O’Toole. He had been working on Pierre Poilievre’s bid before Poilievre pulled out of the race.
While Baird’s candidacy was once considered a long shot in Conservative circles, the former Ottawa-area MP confirmed Sunday he was “taking calls” and weighing his options.
“I haven’t ruled anything out but obviously getting late into the contest, so we’ll take it one day at a time,” Baird told Global News.
If Baird does enter the race, a team of friends and former staffers are ready to run his campaign, three sources told the Star. They include his former policy directors Shuvaloy Majumdar and Oren Cainer, former communications directors Rick Roth and Mike Van Soelen, and Michael Ceci, his current chief of staff at law firm Bennett Jones.
“A lot of people have expressed interest in John entering the race. He’s received a lot of people reaching out, but no decision has been made,” Van Soelen, now a managing principal with Navigator Ltd., said Monday.
Baird would have some significant advantages should he decide to run. Fluently bilingual, Baird has deep political roots in Ontario, a province in which the Conservatives need to win seats.
He’s also well-respected in Conservative circles and has name recognition with the party’s base after serving in highprofile cabinet positions under Harper, including foreign affairs.
That could be an important advantage in the relatively short leadership race, which ends in June.
Baird recently conducted a post-mortem into the Conservatives’ 2019 election loss, which presumably provided insights into how the party might achieve better results in the next federal election.
In addition to MacKay and O’Toole, MPs Marilyn Gladu and Derek Sloan have signalled their intentions to enter the race. A number of lesser-known candidates have also suggested they’re in the running, although it remains to be seen how many will be able to raise the required $25,000 and obtain 1,000 signatures of support by the Feb. 27 deadline. John Williamson, a New Brunswick MP who had been kicking the tires on a potential bid, announced Tuesday afternoon he would not seek the leadership.
“I am now going to focus on helping Conservatives once again become the party of aspiration. We will win when we have answers to the questions that matter to Canadians and we are once again the party of confident new ideas,” Williamson said in a written statement.
The Conservatives will select their next leader at a convention in Toronto on June 27.