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Marc Garneau drops out of Liberal leadership race

Liberal MP Marc Garneau has bowed-out of the Liberal leadership race and says he's throwing his support behind Justin Trudeau.

Garneau made the announcement at a press conference in Ottawa this morning noting that he feels Trudeau will win the race decisively and that it's time for the party to rally around him and move forward united.

"I entered this race believing I could win. The odds were long, but possible," Garneau said.

"But it is my opinion now, based on internal analysis, the Party has chosen. Justin Trudeau is the person Liberals want to see as the new leader of our party and I recognize that and congratulate him." he said adding that he will be a loyal soldier.

"The number of new signups, the external polls and my own internal polling show that I have a solid base of support and that I am the Party’s leading second choice, but ultimately, I am second."

Huffington Post's Althia Raj tweeted that she received an "undated poll" from Team Garneau this morning.

"Poll of 6,455 ppl showing... Garneau w/ 15%, Trudeau w/ 72%, Murray w/ 7.4% and Hall Findlay w/ 5.2%"

[ Related: Supporters disappear, campaign finances questioned: Liberals hit snags in leadership race ]

The announcement is somewhat surprising given that the former astronaut took a lot of digs at Trudeau over the past several weeks about his lack of experience and his reluctance to provide a more detailed platform.

"The leadership of the Liberal Party is too important a position to be handed to an untested candidate who is hiding behind a carefully crafted public relations campaign," Garneau said last month.

[ Related: Trudeau says no to Garneau offer of 1-on-1 debate ]

Liberal insider and Sun News columnist Warren Kinsella says that he's surprised by Garneau's decision to step down but not surprised that he's backing Trudeau.

"His CV was not the CV of someone who gives up the fight easily," he told Yahoo! Canada News.

"If he says he can't beat Trudeau, and then endorses someone else, it would have been very odd, to say the least."

Kinsella adds that others should probably consider dropping out as well.

"I've always said that running for Liberal Party leader, before having been elected, was arrogant. Those who don't have a seat [in Parliament] should have focused on that, first." he said.

Garneau, 62, is the second candidate to step down in the race; George Takach dropped out on February 25th and also endorsed Trudeau.

As of now, there will 7 candidates left standing at the next leadership debate on March 23 in Montreal.

The party will announce their next leader on April 14.

(Photo courtesy of Canadian Press)

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