It's a field of eight candidates and one big name. It would be negligent not to point out that Justin Trudeau has a lot fewer obstacles to the federal Liberal leadership position, but the nature of politics is that it's unpredictable. Trudeau was already grilled after old speech footage came to light in which he champions the history of Quebec-born prime ministers. He was doubly worked over after making comments in a similar vein at a Quebec rally in his support. With seven competitors, there will be no shortage of candidates watching his every move.

Even with a provincial leadership convention in Ontario playing out, the Liberal government is preparing for a changing of the federal guard. In case you haven't heard much from them lately, which you probably haven't, the Liberal Party of Canada has fallen on hard times. The party has been unable to put forward a viable candidate since Jean Chrétien was last in office, despite repeated attempts to improve public perception. There were high hopes that Paul Martin would be the leader they needed, but he was quickly ousted following Chrétien's retirement. After that, Michael Ignatieff was elected to the top job but was unable to generate any support in large part due to the Conservative attack ads that painted him as an American academic fishing for a job.

The current competition for the federal leadership consists of seven candidates with varying skill sets and levels of exposure. For a full overview of the candidates provided by the Liberal party, simply go to liberal.ca/leadership-2013 and select from the list. The field is a fairly typical mix of private sector success stories and politicos with the marked exception of Marc Garneau, the astronaut. Besides the fact that he's been in space — and that's a huge "besides" — Garneau crossed the Atlantic in a yawl. At age 20, he sailed from Rhode Island to Ireland in a little two-masted sailboat. Any human with that capacity for leadership and dedication could be just the challenge for Trudeau.

Thanks to his father being a former prime minister, Trudeau has the benefit of instant name recognition that virtually every other candidate is lacking. Pierre Trudeau had a profound impact on the direction of Canada in the areas of healthcare, the Constitution and French-English relations. Whether his impact was a positive one is a matter of opinion, but in an era of information overload, simply sharing a surname with such a defining Canadian offers Justin a unique advantage.

The current man on the job is interim leader Bob Rae. To put that in perspective, the current Liberal Party leader is a man who is known for his work as an NDP member. It's his former party that will prove a huge obstacle for the Liberal Party come election time because they target many of the same demographics. While Rae has done an excellent job in the interim, it's been just that. Without a clear leader, the federal Liberals will continue to fizzle at a crucial time when federal politicians are starting to build support bases with an eye to Election Day 2015.
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