Gerard Kennedy has officially jumped into the leadership fray, with Ken Dryden to follow suit tomorrow.

While I would have preferred to see Kennedy’s launch in Winnipeg to play up the Western angle, the last campaign to launch out of Manitoba was probably Louis Riel’s and that one ended rather poorly. The optics of having a dozen MPs standing behind Gerard, with Parliament in the background, are very positive considering he might be perceived as an anti-establishment outsider in some circles.

As for the launch itself, Kennedy hit upon the key themes of his campaign: Enterprise, an internationally competitive Canada, immigration, and Liberal Party renewal. And anyone who mentions my all time favourite Liberal, Mitchell Sharp, in their campaign kick-off speech always gets bonus marks from me.