News

A trio of the Liberal Party's pre-eminent mechanics have joined the leadership camp of Toronto MP Michael Ignatieff, suggesting that a major shift is under way in the party's plate tectonics.

With the starting gun just sounded on the race to replace Stéphane Dion as leader, the names of Marc-André Blanchard, considered Quebec Premier Jean Charest's Mr. Fix-It; Don Guy, 2007 campaign director for Ontario's Dalton McGuinty; and Steven MacKinnon, chief of staff to former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna, have appeared on the roster of Ignatieff supporters.

The three were not involved in the 2006 leadership campaign, won by Mr. Dion with Mr. Ignatieff and Toronto MP Bob Rae placing second and third respectively.

Mr. Ignatieff's intention to run again for the leadership is not in doubt. But Mr. Rae, the former Ontario NDP premier, has expressed some hesitation to close friends about whether he will enter the campaign.

If he chooses not to, the race will almost certainly turn into a cakewalk for Mr. Ignatieff.

Mr. Ignatieff, 61, and Mr. Rae, 60, are said to both realize that next May's leadership convention is their last kick at the can to head the Liberal Party and potentially become prime minister of Canada.

Thus there's some comfort within the party that the men's rivalry won't turn into a clone of the guerrilla war that Paul Martin and his supporters employed against Jean Chrétien to oust him from the prime minister's office after Mr. Chrétien defeated Mr. Martin in a leadership contest.

A senior party member in Toronto said Thursday that the presence of Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Guy beneath the Ignatieff tent did not indicate the two Premiers were about to give their support. Rather, he suggested it meant they were prepared “to let their militants get engaged in rebuilding the party.” He also said that if the Ontario Premier's brother, Ottawa MP David McGuinty, entered the leadership race, Mr. Guy might feel obliged to reassess his Ignatieff support.

Mr. MacKinnon, an affable executive with the public-relations firm Hill and Knowlton Canada, is a former national director of the Liberal Party of Canada. He declared support for Mr. Ignatieff a day or so before Mr. McKenna announced – for the second time in two years – that he would not be a leadership contestant. Mr. MacKinnon is considered a superb political organizer, a talent the Ignatieff camp needs.

In the last leadership campaign, while Mr. Ignatieff had the most support from the parliamentary caucus and substantial backing from other segments of the party, he was unable to significantly strengthen his position and was more or less dead in the water after the first ballot.

Mr. Guy is a former chief of staff to Premier McGuinty and campaign director for the Ontario Liberals in the 2003 and 2007 elections. He is president and CEO of the public opinion polling firm Pollara.

Mr. Blanchard is president of the Quebec Liberal Party and Quebec regional managing partner of the national law firm McCarthy Tétrault, an appointment he earned in 2004 at the age of 38. He is said to be closely in touch with the party's grassroots as well as a trusted emissary of Mr. Charest in dealing with the Montreal business community.