Frank Baylis launches Liberal leadership campaign

Frank Baylis speaks to supporters at his campaign launch event in Montreal's St-Michel neighbourhood on Thursday evening. The former MP outlined key elements of his "prosperity" agenda.

Montreal businessman Frank Baylis officially launched his Liberal leadership campaign on Thursday evening.

At a press conference in the St-Michel neighbourhood, Baylis, a former MP who represented Montreal’s Pierrefonds—Dollard from 2015 to 2019, outlined key elements of what he called his “prosperity” agenda for Canada.

The Liberal leadership hopeful said addressing the cost of living, improving healthcare and modernizing the government for greater efficiency would be among his top priorities.

“I’m running for government, and I want to create a country that is both proud and prosperous,” he said.

Baylis emphasized investing in Canadian companies and universities to boost the economy.

“We’re going to invest in Canadian know-how. The other thing I’m going to do is, when we go to Ottawa, we’re going to put our financial house in order,” Baylis explained.

“You have to be fiscally responsible. If you keep spending money you don’t have, it comes back to bite you, and what’s happened is our dollar is now going down in value. And the more our dollar goes down, the more the price at the grocery store goes up.”

Baylis, an electrical engineer who jointly ran Baylis Medical Technologies from 1988 to 2022, also pledged to reform the healthcare system to make it the best “in the world.”

“I’ve dealt with doctors, I’ve dealt with hospitals, I’ve dealt with policymakers, I’ve dealt with government agencies, and I know what needs to be done. We have a team, and we’re going to do it,” he noted.

The former MP said that one of the current problems in Canada’s healthcare system is limited access and proposed a new approach to increase access to services.

“We’re going to have a third way that you can come into the system. We’re going to have it staffed and ready, and I know how to do it. We’re going to use something called nurse practitioners. I’m going to announce a lot more further into the campaign,” Baylis said.

French language and culture

Baylis told the crowd in French that he was an Anglophone Quebecer and that his parents fought to send him to a French school in the province.

He added that he continued attending French school even after the family relocated to Toronto for his father’s job. He said that he grew up with Franco-Ontarians.

“I understand the challenge we still face in protecting and promoting the French language and culture,” Baylis said.

“The French language is the common language of Quebec. And we must protect our institutions. It’s a big challenge that I understand and will tackle because French is part of my culture.”

Trump and tariffs

Regarding US President Donald Trump’s looming tariff threats, Baylis said Canada must meet “fire with fire.”

He argued that among the current Liberal leadership contenders, he was the only businessman and the only one equipped to go toe to toe with Trump.

“It’s not the first time I’ve seen someone that’s aggressive and rude and has been rude to our country, unacceptably. But none of that’s going to work on me. None of it is going to work on us. We’re going to stand up,” he said.

“When you’re dealing with this kind of a negotiator, this kind of a bully. You fight pound for pound, you get hit, you hit back. He puts $1 tariff, fine. We put $1 tariff… He will understand that he is not pushing us around.”