2006 Leadership bid

Martha Hall Findlay's Big Red Bus.

Martha Hall Findlay on the morning of the last day of the Liberal Leadership race, having just endorsed Dion.

The Liberal Party was defeated in the 2006 election and Paul Martin announced his intentions to step down as leader of the Liberal Party.^[6] On February 8, 2006, Hall Findlay became the first declared candidate for the Liberal Party leadership election to succeed Paul Martin.^[7] As the lowest profile of the candidates she jokingly referred to herself as "Martha Who Who". Hall Findlay made up for her lack of profile with an ambitious grassroots campaign that also included driving across the country in a motor home, which became known as the "big red bus". She described herself as fiscally conservative, socially progressive and the candidate who could bridge the gap between the Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin factions of the party. Political commentator Chantal Hébert wrote that out of the three women vying for the leadership, former cabinet ministers Carolyn Bennett and Hedy Fry dropped out mid-campaign, Hall Findlay "is the only one who has the necessary language credentials and the presence that front-line politicians are made of." Her two key issues in the race were the environment and health care. She believed that the Kyoto climate change protocol was worth pursuing and favoured private health care, but from a universal, single-tier and publicly funded system.^[8][9] Towards the end of the campaign Hall Findlay was endorsed by York West Member of Parliament Judy Sgro, she was the only member of the Liberal caucus to endorse Hall Findlay's candidacy.^[10] Along with Stéphane Dion she also received a newspaper endorsement from the Toronto Sun. Hall Findlay finished last on the first ballot with 2.7% of the vote and threw her support behind eventual winner Dion.^[11]

On December 18, 2006, Dion appointed Hall Findlay as the party's platform outreach chair. In her role she traveled across the country engaging Canadians on ideas for the party's election platform.^[12]

Willowdale MP

Hall Findlay was appointed as the Liberal candidate in the Toronto riding of Willowdale by Dion in 2007, after Liberal MP Jim Peterson announced he would not seek re-election. Willowdale was considered to be one of the Liberal Party's safest seats in the country and Hall Findlay's victory was almost guaranteed.^[13] Only months after announcing he would not seek re-election Peterson resigned from parliament, leading to a by-election to be held on March 17, 2008.^[14] Findlay faced Conservative candidate Maureen Harquail, NDP candidate Rini Ghosh, and Green Party candidate Lou Carcasole. On by-election night, Hall Findlay won nearly 60 per cent of the popular vote.^[15] Later that year she was re-elected in the general election, though her share of the popular vote fell below 49 per cent.^[16]

Dion resigned as Liberal leader in October 2008, following the party's poor showing the general election weeks prior. Hall Findlay was mentioned as a potential candidate for the leadership of the party, but announced in November that she would not be seeking the leadership. Outstanding debt from her leadership bid, as well as from the by-election and general election factored into her reason for not seeking the leadership.^[17] In December 2008 leadership candidates Dominic LeBlanc and Bob Rae dropped out of the race and Michael Ignatieff was acclaimed as party leader.^[18] Under Dion and Ignatieff she held several important Critic positions in the Official Opposition: Associate Finance; Transport, Infrastructure and Communities; Public Works and Government Services, and International Trade.^[19] With the Liberal Party finishing behind the Conservatives and NDP for the first time in the 2011 federal election Hall Findlay was narrowly defeated in her own riding by Conservative Chungsen Leung.^[20]

2013 leadership bid

Hall Findlay during a candidates debate on February 16, 2013, in Mississauga

Ignatieff resigned as leader following the party's showing in the 2011 election. Despite her defeat in that election, Hall Findlay made no secret of her interest in seeking the leadership of the party in the 2013 leadership race. However, with outstanding debt from her 2006 leadership bid, Hall Findlay stated that she would not run for leader until that debt was paid off.^[21] In October 2012, she announced that she had paid off the remainder of the debt and on November 14, 2012, she announced her candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party.^[22][23] While Justin Trudeau was widely viewed as the frontrunner in the race, Hall Findlay was considered among the top-tier of candidates.^[24] On April 14, 2013, she lost the leadership election to Montreal MP Justin Trudeau.

In June 2012, as an Executive Fellow with the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, Hall Findlay, released a paper that called for an end to the supply management system in Canada's dairy, poultry and egg sectors.^[25][26] At the launch of her leadership bid on November 14, 2012, she stated that with the exception of "some politicians and dairy farmers" the reaction to her proposal to abolish supply management had been "overwhelmingly positive."^[27] Hall Findlay also announced she would be releasing policy papers every few weeks of the five month race, her first policy proposal called for a national energy strategy for energy infrastructure.^[28]

According to Elections Canada, Hall Findlay's campaign brought in $149,877.45 in donations in the fourth quarter of 2012, originally believed to be second only to Justin Trudeau who brought in $673,156.53.^[29] However, a discrepancy involving money raised to pay off her leadership debt from the 2006 races appears to have slid her into third behind Marc Garneau.^[30] Hall Findlay's campaign was managed by Stephen Carter, who managed the Calgary Mayoral campaign of Naheed Nenshi and the Alberta PC campaign under leader Alison Redford.^[31]