Megan Leslie won't seek the leadership of the NDP
Former NDP deputy leader Megan Leslie will not be running for the party leadership.
"I am not," she told host Chris Hall in an interview on The House midweek podcast.
"I'm tired. My energy has gone. I don't have the passion in me right now for politics," Leslie said. "The NDP deserves a leader who has that passion, who wants it. And I don't want it."
Leslie, who lost her long-held Halifax seat in the Liberal sweep of Atlantic Canada in last fall's federal election, isn't ruling out an eventual return to politics, but said it wouldn't occur before Canadians head to the polls again in 2019.
She added that whoever is chosen to lead the party into the next election — and take on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — doesn't necessarily need to come from within the party's current ranks.
"I think that'd be exciting [to have an outsider]. There are a lot of options out there, there's 36 million Canadians," she said. "We will cast the net far and wide."
The NDP has two years to choose its new leader before the next convention. Until then, Mulcair will stay on to helm the party.
As for who will replace him, Leslie didn't touch on any of the names that have been floated as possible successors, but opened up on the type of leader the party will be looking for.
"We need someone youthful. I don't think age matters, but I think youthfulness matters," she said.
"We need someone who understands what it means to be a social democrat, and can look at what the Liberals are doing and actually make a distinction. We don't need someone who blurs those lines."