Some in the Ontario Liberal party have started to look to space in hopes of finding a candidate which can revive the decimated party’s odds in the 2022 provincial election.
According to HuffPost, “a group of Liberal organizers wants to draft “moonshot candidate” Chris Hadfield to replace former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne as provincial party leader.”
“The reason we call him a ‘moonshot candidate’ is because we know that it’s going to be a heck of a time getting him to run, but we think that if he does run it will help not just the party but the province, because we think he’d be a great premier,” Evan Wiseman, a former political staffer on Parliament Hill and spokesperson for the group pushing for Hadfield told the Ottawa Citizen.
From moonshot to juggernaut?
While Col. Hadfield has no experience in politics, he is an astronaut, and was the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station.
On top of that giant accomplishment, he served as a pilot in the air force.
In terms of general optics, there is a lot that the average voter could pick up on. Overall though, the odds seem slim.
First, Hadfield has an illustrious and successful career.
Second, recent polling has Toronto Mayor John Tory as the preferred candidate by a healthy margin. That poll did not include Mr. Hadfield but did show that Tory had the support of more than 50% of those polled.
While there are some serious points pushing against the likelihood of Hadfield running, including multiple failed attempts from Liberal insiders to previously push him to run federally, we likely won’t know if he really intends to stay out of the race for another few months.
The Liberals are only heading to their annual convention sometime in June, where they will only decide the rules for their leadership race. As a result, the party will likely only pick their leader in 2020. With such a late campaign period, most serious candidates won’t be declared anytime soon.
For now, former cabinet ministers Steven Del Duca and Michael Coteau have declared their interest in seeking the leadership.
Do you think the former astronaut will run? Join the conversation by commenting below!
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