00:00So I thought it might be fun for us to do this again.
00:15I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next
00:23leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process.
00:29Last night, I asked the President of the Liberal Party to begin that process.
00:35This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to
00:40me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.
00:49As you all know, I am a fighter, and I am not someone who backs away from a fight, particularly
00:55when a fight is as important as this one is.
01:01But I have always been driven by my love for Canada, by my desire to serve Canadians, and
01:08by what is in the best interests of Canadians.
01:11And Canadians deserve a real choice in the next election, and it has become obvious to
01:16me with the internal battles that I cannot be the one to carry the Liberal standard into
01:25the next election.
01:26If I have one regret, particularly as we approach this election – well, there are probably
01:30many regrets that I will think of – but I do wish that we'd been able to change the
01:38way we elect our governments in this country so that people could simply choose a second
01:44choice or a third choice on the same ballot, so that parties would spend more time trying
01:49to be people's second or third choices, and people would have been looking for things
01:56they have in common instead of trying to polarize and divide Canadians against each other.
02:01I think in this time, figuring out how to pull together and find common ground remains
02:08something that is really important for democracies.
02:10But I could not change unilaterally without the support of other parties.
02:16Without our electoral system, that wouldn't have been responsible.
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