Justin Trudeau ‘broke his promise, so I’m withdrawing my candidacy’ says Zach Paikin

Since becoming leader, Justin Trudeau has has to face a flurry of attacks from the Conservative Party and the NDP — by most accounts, he's handled it well.

Let's see how he deals with an attack from within his own party.

On Monday, a young but high-profile Liberal nomination candidate announced that he's dropping out of the race because of Justin Trudeau going back on his word.

22-year old Zach Paikin, son of TVO's Steve Paikin, announced his 'resignation' on Facebook.

"Last week, Justin Trudeau broke a key promise to hold open nominations in every riding by blocking the candidacy of Christine Innes in downtown Toronto," Paikin, who was aiming to be a federal Liberal candidate in a Hamilton area riding, wrote.

"I cannot, in good conscience, campaign to be a part of a team of candidates if others seeking to join that team are prevented from doing so if their ideas or ambitions run contrary to the party leader's interest. Therefore, after spending the weekend consulting with friends and family, I am taking what I believe to be a principled decision by withdrawing my candidacy for the Liberal nomination in Hamilton West--Ancaster--Dundas as a sign of protest.

"I am a strong believer in our country's founding democratic principles, including: Parliament as a place for dialogue, a government that is accountable to Parliament, and party leaders who remain accountable to their respective caucuses (not vice-versa). I am particularly troubled by the fact that our leader has discarded some of those principles ultimately in order to protect a star candidate."

Postmedia News broke the Innes story last week; according to the report, Innes —wife of former Liberal MP Tony Ianno — was told that she could not run for the party because of alleged "intimidation and bullying” tactics against supporters of star Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland.

Innes denied the allegations suggesting that the party didn't want her because she wouldn't agree to not run against Freeland — that Trudeau was protecting his handpicked MP for Toronto-Centre.

[ Related: New poll suggests that Justin Trudeau’s Ukraine joke didn’t hurt his popularity ]

Trudeau's promise of 'open nominations' has been questioned before -- especially with regard to Freeland and Toronto Centre, the riding which once belonged to interim Liberal leader Bob Rae.

"The behind-the-scenes machinations in Toronto Centre suggest, among other things, that the entire affair has been rigged to favour [Chrystia Freeland] over the [other nomination candidates]," Liberal insider and Sun News Network analyst Warren Kinsella wrote prior to a September 2013 Toronto Centre Liberal nomination vote.

"Even before the race has run its course, in fact, Toronto Centre feels like it has been decided already — and it has left many wondering if Justin Trudeau’s much-celebrated “open nominations” pledge was, among other things, a bit of spin, maybe even a fib."

As for Paikin, while he's choosing not to run for the Liberals, he says that he's still a Liberal supporter.

"I still believe that the Liberal Party of Canada remains the most forceful defender in this country of social progress, fiscal responsibility and national unity," he wrote.

"I will focus my efforts going forward on supporting the candidacies of friends and colleagues who I think will make outstanding public servants."

(Photo courtesy of Zach Paikin's Facebook page)

Are you a politics junkie?
Follow @politicalpoints on Twitter!