Liberal leadership race: Anita Anand won’t seek top job

Transport Minister Anita Anand announced on social media Saturday she will not seek the leadership of the Liberal Party, nor will she run for re-election in the riding of Oakville.

In her Saturday statement, Anand wrote that she would stay on as an MP until the next election.

“I sincerely thank Prime Minister Trudeau for welcoming me on the Liberal team as a Member of Parliament and for entrusting me with key cabinet portfolios,” the statement reads.

“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, and to return to my prior professional life of teaching, research and public policy analyses,”

Anand is the latest federal cabinet minister to bow out of the upcoming race to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced Monday that he would be stepping down as leader following growing pressures to resign.

Anand joins fellow cabinet members Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, who revealed Friday she would not run for the party’s top job, and Dominic LeBlanc, who currently serves as minister of finance and minister of intergovernmental affairs, and who declined to participate in the race in a social media statement published Wednesday.

This is a developing story. More details to come…