Several well-known public personalities have thrown their hats into the ring to compete for seats in the upcoming snap federal election.
The Liberals have gained traction in the polls over the past few weeks, coinciding with the party’s leadership campaign and Mark Carney’s new role as leader. This surge has prompted several well-known figures from local politics and the media to enter the race as candidates.
The Conservatives experienced a similar influx after Pierre Poilievre became party leader in 2022, gaining momentum as former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s popularity began to decline.
Local Politicians
The Liberals will be counting on two former big-city mayors from western Canada in this election.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson speaks during a transit funding announcement in Surrey, B.C., on Sept. 4, 2018. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck
Gregor Robertson, who served as an NDP MLA from 2005 to 2008 and the 39th mayor of Vancouver from 2008 to 2018, will run for the Liberals in Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby. Robertson was the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history, and was behind the creation of its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan.
Robertson is running in a new riding composed mostly of the previous riding held by former Liberal cabinet minister Harjit Sajjan, who is not seeking re-election. Polling aggregator website 338Canada.com considers the riding a “safe” Liberal seat.
Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi speaks to media about the Alberta 2025 budget in Edmonton, on Feb. 27, 2025. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson
Amarjeet Sohi, who was elected the 36th mayor of Edmonton in October 2021, recently announced he will take a leave of absence to run for the Liberals in the riding of Edmonton Southeast. This is also a new riding created by electoral redistribution. 338Canada tags the riding as “leaning” to the Liberals.
Sohi previously stepped away from his role as an Edmonton city councillor when he was elected as a Liberal MP in 2015. Sohi served as minister of natural resources and minister of infrastructure under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but lost his seat in the 2019 election.
Also in Alberta, former Chief of Enoch Cree Nation Billy Morin will be running for the Conservatives in the riding of Edmonton Northwest. Morin became the nation’s youngest chief ever at just 28 and served from 2015 to 2022. He emphasized economic development and relationships, such as advancing rural broadband activity, building a new primary school, and signing a memorandum of understanding with the City of Edmonton to strengthen collaboration during his tenure. 338Canada considers the riding as “leaning” to the Tories.
Former Haisla First Nation chief councillor Ellis Ross in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck
The Conservatives have also recruited another former First Nations chief in Ellis Ross, who was the chief of the Haisla Nation and served as a B.C. MLA from 2017 to 2024 for the B.C. Liberals, during which time he held a cabinet position in the Christy Clark government. Ross is running in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, which is considered a “safe” Tory seat by 338Canada.
Other retired MLAs now running for the Tories include former Progressive Conservative (PC) Mike Dawson in New Brunswick in Miramichi-Grand Lake, a safe Liberal seat, and former PC MLA Grant Jackson in Manitoba in Brandon-Souris, a safe Tory seat.
Then-MP Parm Gill responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons in 2014 in Ottawa. Mr. Gill is now seeking re-election in the Milton riding. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Parm Gill, who has been serving as Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Minister of Red Tape Reduction, will also be running in the safe Conservative riding of Milton. Gill previously served as the MP for the Conservatives under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2011 to 2015.
Journalists and Influencers
The upcoming 2025 election features two prominent journalists as candidates.
Journalist and broadcaster Evan Solomon has thrown his hat in the ring in the riding of Toronto Centre, which has long been a Liberal stronghold. This comes after Liberal MP and former minister for women, gender equality and youth Marci Ien announced she would not be running in the next election.
Solomon has had a long career in journalism, most recently as the radio host of “The Evan Solomon Show” in the Toronto region and the host of CTV programs “Power Play” and “Question Period.” Solomon left CTV in 2022 to work as a publisher for GZERO Media with the Eurasia Group.
Solomon and Liberal leader Mark Carney have known each other for many years. That relationship landed Solomon in hot water in 2015, when he was fired from CBC after the Toronto Star broke a story alleging he took commissions for brokering secret art deals to people he was connected to through his reporting—including Carney.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (R) speaks during a fireside chat with True North journalist Andrew Lawton during the Canada Strong and Free Network event in Ottawa, on April 12, 2024. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby
Former broadcaster and author Andrew Lawton is running for the Conservatives in the riding of Elgin-St. Thomas-London South. Lawton, who was the chief editor of the news outlet True North and published a book on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, first announced he was running for the Tory nomination in the riding in August 2024 after Karen Vecchio announced she would not run again.
The riding of Elgin-St. Thomas-London South was created in 2023 out of Elgin-Middlesex-London, and will come into effect in the 2025 election. 338Canada labels the riding as “safe” for the Tories.
Conservative commentator Aaron Gunn announces his leadership bid for the BC Liberal Party in Victoria on Oct. 9, 2021. Courtesy Aaron Gunn
Filmmaker Aaron Gunn will be running in the riding of North Island-Powell River in B.C., after being selected for the Conservative nomination in late 2023. Gunn served in the Canadian Armed Forces and worked for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation before he turned to producing journalistic content on Youtube.
Gunn directed and produced numerous documentaries on issues such as drugs, public safety, and free speech. North Island-Powell River is also considered a “safe” Tory seat by 338Canada.
Newly elected Conservative member of Parliament Jamil Jivani addresses caucus on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 20, 2024. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
Another media personality running for the Tories will try to win a seat in a general election. Jamil Jivani, a former Bell Media journalist and National Post columnist—and personal friend of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance—will seek to retain the safe Conservative Durham riding after winning it in a by-election last year.
Dr. Matt Strauss Handout
Additionally, Dr. Matt Strauss, who was the health officer for Haldiman-Norfolk and garnered a large social media following during the COVID-19 pandemic, is running as a Conservative in the riding of Kitchener South-Hespeler, which is a toss-up between the Liberals and Conservatives.
The Top Candidate, Businessmen, and the NDP
The most notable of the new candidates running is the man currently occupying the highest office in Canada. Mark Carney emerged victorious March 9 in the Liberal leadership race and became prime minister on March 14, yet he still lacks a seat in Parliament.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney speaks to media at Rideau Hall, where, as prime minister, he asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call an election, in Ottawa, on March 23, 2025. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
Carney will compete for a seat in the Ottawa riding of Nepean, which is directly adjacent to his main rival, Poilievre. Chandra Arya, who had represented that seat since 2015, was informed on March 20 by the Liberals’ National Campaign Director Andrew Bevan that his eligibility as a candidate had been revoked.
Arya, who had attempted to run in the Liberal leadership race but was denied, later said his advocacy on issues important to Hindu Canadians had been a point of contention with the Liberal Party. Carney said on March 26 the party has a “very robust and serious process of vetting candidates” and that some are not given the “green light.” 338 Canada currently marks the Neapean seat as “likely Liberal.”
Gun control advocate and survivor of the1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre Nathalie Provost speaks at a press conference on new measures to strengthen gun control in Ottawa on Dec. 5, 2024. The Canadian Press/ Patrick Doyle
In a riding just outside Montreal, Châteauguay-Les Jardins-de-Napierville, the Liberals have chosen gun control advocate Nathalie Provost to run as a candidate. Liberal incumbent Brenda Shanahan is not seeking re-election in the seat, which is likely to go to the Liberals.
Provost, who was injured in the 1989 massacre at Polytechnique that killed 14 women, has spent the years since advocating for stricter firearms laws alongside fellow survivor Heidi Rathjen.
Provost has been both a member of the Coalition for Gun Control and the spokesperson of PolySeSouvient. Prime Minister Carney recently made an error during a campaign stop in Nova Scotia by mispronouncing Provost’s name and saying the shooting happened at Concordia, but he apologized to Provost in a phone call soon after.
“I very much regret that I misspoke yesterday,” he said on March 26.
Timothy Hodgson, the chair of Hydro One, has also taken a leave of absence from his position to run in the riding of Markham-Thornhill, which is a safe Liberal seat. Hodgson was a former Goldman Sachs banker who also served as an advisor to Carney when he was governor of the Bank of Canada.
In the riding of Ottawa Centre, NDP MPP Joel Hardin will run for the first time in a federal election. Hardin has served as an Ontario MPP for the New Democrats since 2018. The federal seat of Ottawa Centre was held by the NDP from 2004 to 2015, but the Liberals have since been in control, most recently under Yasir Naqvi since 2021. 338Canada considers the seat “safe” for the Liberals.
Another NDP MLA in Alberta recently announced he will run for the Liberal Party in the riding of Edmonton Gateway. Rodrigo Loyola, who had been an MLA for Edmonton-Ellerslie since 2015, will run in a seat that is a toss-up between the Tories and Grits. 338Canada projects the NDP has a less than 1 percent chance of winning.
Liberals Re-thinking Their Retirement
The Liberal Party has seen its polling numbers boosted since former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would be resigning in early January. That surge in popularity has been accompanied by several Liberal MPs rethinking their decisions not to run in the next election.
Sean Fraser is seen during a news conference in Ottawa on Dec. 16, 2024. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
Sean Fraser, who served as housing and immigration minister, announced in December he would not run for re-election in his Nova Scotia riding, citing family reasons.
Fraser told reporters on March 25 that his decision to run again came after he spoke with Carney, who told him he should reconsider the decision, and was assured he would be given a way to balance the workload with his family life. Fraser did not mention improving Liberal fortunes, particularly in his riding of Central Nova, as a reason why he is choosing to run again.
Anita Anand is sworn in as the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry during a swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on March 14, 2025. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
Anita Anand, who held several different cabinet portfolios, also announced she had reversed her decision to retire from politics. She is running again in Oakville East, a safe Liberal seat, under Carney’s leadership. The same happened with New Brunswick’s Wayne Long, who will run again in Saint John-Rothesay, a toss-up seat, after previously saying he was done with federal politics.
