Transition process to replace Justin Trudeau is quietly underway [Video]

Far from the political spotlight and prying eyes, the process has already begun.

When the next Liberal leader is announced on March 9, it will mark the end of the leadership campaign triggered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to resign.

However, experts say the process to transition to the next prime minister begins well before that day. Before any new Liberal leader decides to plunge Canada into an early federal election, there are legal and technical steps they must first take.

David Zussman, who worked on former prime minister Jean Chrétien’s transition team, said there are “a huge number of really important elements in the transition” that require advance planning.

Zussman says his experience has taught him that governments who plan their transition in advance have “good starts to their governing … as opposed to the situation where they are sworn in and they don’t know what to do …