NEW GLASGOW – Liberal Party of Canada hopeful Martha Hall Findlay was at Mac, Mac and Mac at Aberdeen Business Centre on Tuesday to talk policy, politics and the leadership race.
The law firm hosted the talk as Hall Findlay made her way from Truro to Antigonish on campaign stops, though the handful of people in attendance ranged in political allegiances.
This is Hall Findlay’s second attempt at the leadership of the party. She unsuccessfully vied for the top spot after Paul Martin’s resignation in 2006.
Even the loss of her seat in the House of Commons in the 2011 election hasn’t stopped her from being the first to throw her hat into the nine-candidate race.
“There are many challenges to this campaign,” she said. “Although it is nice to be referred to as a front-runner this time around.”
She believes that the next leader of the Liberal Party will be prime minister of Canada after the next federal election.
Discussion focused on how the next leader would be elected, since the party has adopted new rules and regulations in an attempt to me more open and democratic.
Hall Findlay says the changes are good for an area like Central Nova.
“This riding will have the same weight as a riding in Alberta, B.C., downtown Toronto – as any other riding in Canada, just like the MPs who represent them.”
She said she is on a mission to change old attitudes within the party that electoral success can only come by taking back Toronto and Quebec.
“I don’t agree with this conclusion,” she said. “We need to look at every riding.”
Hall Findlay doesn’t care for ideological categorization, but prefers to look at policies on an individual basis.
“For me it’s not about left wing or right wing. It’s about being smart.”
Hall Findlay, lawyer, businesswoman and entrepreneur, is currently the chief legal officer at EnStream LP and Executive Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.
The party intends to elect its new leader on April 14 in Ottawa.
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