With today’s “McKenna keeps door ajar” headline sure to generate some buzz, perhaps it’s time for a stroll down memory lane.
1989: Ontario Premier David Peterson interrupted a brief vacation with Frank McKenna Tuesday to suggest that the New Brunswick premier should run for the federal Liberal leadership.
1990: Whispers about McKenna’s interest in replacing John Turner have been growing in New Brunswick in recent weeks because the premier is shopping for a new speech writer.
1997: Journalist Allan Fotheringham, who reported this in the Financial Post, suggested the Martinites regard former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna as a real danger, though it’s hard to see the country choosing a man so earnest and eager to please.
1998: Frank McKenna, the political wunderkind who ran New Brunswick for a decade and is still only 50, might be persuaded to leave the corporate world and go into federal politics, where he was once expected to go.
2002: The former premier of New Brunswick, Frank McKenna, has also been mentioned as a potential candidate.
2003: Mr. McKenna, who attended the Liberal convention briefly last week and didn’t rule out running.
2004: McKenna has made it clear that while he wants to run for election in a seat in the Moncton area, he does not want to fight for the nomination with an incumbent MP.
August 2005: Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Frank McKenna, is seen as the prime contender to replace Prime Minister Paul Martin.
December 2005: Topping everyone’s list of heirs-apparent is Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Frank McKenna.
January 2006: The body isn’t even warm yet, and already there are at least two senior Liberals — Frank McKenna and John Manley — who insiders say are quietly gearing up their leadership campaigns.
January 2006: A longtime friend and political ally of McKenna’s said the former premier is a “political addict” and will be very tempted to plunge into the leadership contest.
May 2006: A source, however, told The Hill Times that “don’t be surprised if you see the draft [Frank] McKenna campaign by late July” if none of these official Liberal candidates emerges as a clear front-runner.
July 2006: If you ask some Liberals whom, among the 11 candidates, is going to win the
leadership campaign, the answer is now the twelfth, Frank McKenna.
October 2008: McKenna Eyeing Liberal leadership: source
October 2008: “I don’t think the people who are putting his name out there are doing it without some indication that he wants it out there,” one Liberal said Thursday.
November 2009: And he said the door – which always has been slightly ajar since he left elected office – is still open for a return to public life. “It’s fair to say that door is ajar, but I don’t say that in a kind of tantalizing way,” McKenna said.