Toronto | Two friends from the province of Alberta, both with strong careers overseas and similar backgrounds – Harvard and Oxford graduates, members of the liberal global elite – are vying to replace Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party and of the country just as Canada faces a generational crisis because of the Trump administration’s tariffs and sovereignty threats.

Some 400,000 Liberal Party members have been casting ballots in their party’s important leadership race to decide who will succeed Trudeau and mark a new era in Canadian politics. Whoever wins will have to call a general election, which must be held by October, but could take place sooner.