MP Jaime Battiste drops out of Liberal Party leadership race

Nova Scotia Liberal MP Jaime Battiste says he will be dropping out of the Liberal Party leadership race in favour of backing former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney. 

The member for Sydney-Victoria joined the race on Jan. 23 and was the only First Nations candidate in the running to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"When I began this journey, it was not only to make history again, but to ensure that key and important priorities were at the forefront of this leadership race," Battiste said in a news statement published on Thursday. "In endorsing Mark, my fight is not over — it is only just beginning!"

Five candidates remain in the race: Carney, former finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, former government House leader Karina Gould, former Montreal Liberal MP Frank Baylis and former Brampton, Ont., Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla.

Battiste, a member of the Eskasoni First Nation, was first elected in 2019. He serves as chair of the Liberal Party's Indigenous caucus and was the first Mi'kmaw elected to the House of Commons. He is also a former regional chief with the Assembly of First Nations.

Initially, he said he decided to throw his hat in the ring after receiving encouragement from Indigenous leaders across Canada. He noted he wanted to become prime minister to fight for key Liberal policies, including the national programs for pharmacare, dental care, affordable child care and the national school food policy. 

Dhalla said Thursday in a post on X that she was sorry to see Battiste end his campaign. 

"As a champion of the First Nations I was proud to see a voice of the Indigenous community in the race. I look forward to being a strong voice of the First Nations as I believe they need results not noise," she wrote.

In a news release Thursday, the Liberal Party of Canada said that almost 400,000 registered Liberals had signed up to vote in the upcoming leadership race. It said that number was preliminary as the party continues to review applications and leadership campaigns will be able to challenge the status of those who are registered to vote.

The news release said the party had "its best-ever January" for grassroots fundraising and that, over the last month, more than 100 Canadians had reached out to be a Liberal candidate in the next election.