John Manley - 2003 Liberal Leadership Election

2003 Liberal Leadership Election

When Jean Chrétien announced his decision to retire (largely as a result of attempts to oust him by former finance minister Paul Martin), Manley announced his intention to run for the Liberal leadership. His primary competition was Martin, although Industry Minister Allan Rock and Heritage Minister and former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps also ran, while Brian Tobin briefly contemplated running. Manley's polling numbers and fundraising were slightly behind that of Rock's, while well ahead of Copps but far behind Martin.

From the beginning, it was apparent that Martin had a significant head start on his rivals; he had been the heir apparent since his failed 1990 leadership bid. Martin's record as Minister of Finance was impressive and he also controlled much of the party machinery by 2002. Manley attacked Martin's refusal to disclose his campaign contributors, but failed to make a significant dent in Martin's support. Manley generally polled around 25% during his time in the contest, and he had the support of ministers Jane Stewart and Susan Whelan and backbench MP John H. Bryden. The rest of cabinet and most of caucus said that they would back Martin (with Martin's large lead, even most Chrétien supporters grudgingly voted for Martin), including Rock who dropped out of the race early on. Seeing his inevitable defeat, Manley withdrew from the race on July 22, 2003, and endorsed Martin.

Upon Martin's landslide victory at the leadership convention on November 14, 2003, political commentators wondered whether someone so closely linked to Chrétien would avoid a potentially embarrassing demotion in Martin's new cabinet. That year, Manley had several times expressed his interest in returning to the Foreign Affairs ministry, as it was likely that Martin would appoint his own lieutenant to the Finance portfolio. Though both were ideologically on the right wing of the Liberal party, Manley's attacks on Martin's campaign donations had likely poisoned the relationship between the two men, hurting Manley's chances of remaining a Minister. Indeed, Manley, Stewart, and Whelan were dropped from cabinet, while Bryden's constituency was abolished after Martin was sworn in as Prime Minister.

Martin, who would release the list of his new cabinet in a few days, decided to offer Manley a role as Ambassador to the United States, a patronage posting Manley said he would seriously consider. In the end, Manley declined the ambassadorial appointment, apparently because it would take him out of the country and "out of the loop" for fundraising and other political activities with a long-term view towards his own eventual bid for the Liberal leadership someday. Frank McKenna, who had also been considered a federal leadership contender, was appointed instead. On November 28, Manley announced his retirement from politics, remaining as a backbencher until the 2004 federal election.