Transportation Minister Anita Anand exits Liberal leadership race

Anita Anand says she won’t be running for Liberal leadership, nor will she be seeking re-election for her seat as MP of Oakville. Anand announced the news early this afternoon in a post on X, in which she says she’ll be staying on as MP until the end of her term, and that’s it.

Her reasoning for the departure comes from what she says is a desire to return to her previous life as a lawyer and law professor. The post is several paragraphs long, and in it, she says, “Now that the Prime Minister has made his decision to move to his next chapter, I have determined the time is right for me to do the same.”

Anand was first elected to her role as Oakville’s MP in 2019 and has served in a number of positions, first as the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, and now as Minister of Transportation. Her decision to not run in the race for Liberal leadership narrows the pool of candidates and puts to rest speculation that she would throw her name in the hat, leaving Chandra Arya as the only sitting Liberal MP to declare his candidacy for the leadership thus far. So far, the only sitting Liberal MP in the race is Chandra Arya, with former MP Frank Baylis being the first to announce their candidacy.