MONTREAL – A Canadian – the son of a Barbadian mother – is running to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Frank Baylis, a businessman residing in Montreal, served one term in the House of Commons, from 2015 to 2019, representing the riding of Pierrefonds-Dollard.
His mother, Gloria Clarke-Baylis, was a nurse by profession, who founded Baylis Medical Company in the early 1980s, operating the business from the family home.
Baylis Medical, which incorporated in 1986 as an importer and distributor of medical devices, has more than 870 employees with offices in Montreal, Toronto, the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. Frank was company president from 1989 to 2015.
Earlier this month, Trudeau announced that he was leaving politics.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process,” he told reporters at a January 6 news conference.
Trudeau will chair a retreat of his Cabinet next week, focusing on defending Canada’s interests and boosting ties with the US.
The retreat, in Quebec, will coincide with the inauguration of American President-elect Donald Trump, who has recently vowed to impose tariffs on Canadian imports and mused about making Canada the 51st state of the US.
Baylis, in his run for Liberal Party leadership, is receiving backing from some segments of the Black and Caribbean community.
Gemma Raeburn-Baynes, a well-known Montreal activist and community leader, has been urging Liberal Party registration and support for Baylis.
“Frank Baylis is a friend. He is part-Bajan and needs our support,” said Raeburn-Baynes, who also urged completion of an online form that calls for support for Baylis “for the position of leadership contestant of the Liberal Party of Canada”.
In a comment on the unfolding developments in the Liberal Party, Grenadian-Canadian Dr Justine Pierre, said the resignation of Trudeau “serves as a critical wake-up call for the Black population in Canada. It highlights an urgent reality: we cannot rely solely on government policies or the guidance of universities to address our community’s
unique challenges. Instead, we must take ownership of our progress and focus on solving our issues collectively”.
Pierre, a labour statistician and a director at Toronto-based Dunn, Pierre, Barnett & Company Canada Ltd., pointed to research conducted by his firm that shows that Canada’s 1.5 million black people are some of the most educated in the labour force; and also has a youthful black demographic that “presents an enormous opportunity for growth and innovation”.
“Our community contributes approximately CAN$25 billion annually in combined income. However, these resources are not fully leveraged for collective advancement.”
Among the “significant barriers” hampering black community advancement and economic empowerment, according to Pierre, is lack of unity.
He laments that Canada’s Black community is yet to “fully capitalise on the potential of entrepreneurship and business ownership as a tool for collective advancement”, adding that “without a strong base of black-owned businesses, our community struggles to achieve self-reliance and long-term growth. A prosperous business class serves as the backbone of any thriving community”.
In order to build a stronger back community, collaboration is needed and “we must prioritise the development of black businesses”, Pierre advised.
“This is the moment for us to take charge of our destiny,” he emphasised.
(Taken from Caribbean Camera, a newspaper which states it is “a trusted source of news, information and community engagement for the black and Caribbean communities in Toronto”)
