Former BC Liberal finance minister Carole Taylor said she will not run for leader of the federal Liberal Party, despite speculation she would be a “potent” candidate.

“At this time it’s just not my intention to run federally,” she said in an interview.

As The Tyee reported earlier, Macleans national editor Andrew Coyne speculated Taylor might be an “potent” replacement for outgoing leader Stéphane Dion on an Oct. 20 episode of CBC’s The National.

“She would be a potent candidate,” Coyne told Peter Mansbridge in a panel on the Liberal leader’s impending resignation. “A woman on the right of the party from the West would be an interesting candidate.”

Taylor said she was flattered, but not interested.

“I’m appreciative of the nice comments that have been made, but I’m not intending to run for the federal leadership,” she said.

Taylor served as Finance Minister for Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government after she was elected to the B.C. legislature in 2005. Though she helped spearhead the province’s carbon tax, Taylor announced last year that she wouldn’t run for re-election when her MLA term expires in 2009.

Asked why federal politics weren’t now an option, she replied: “It’s a pretty tough life for anyone from the West Coast, as David Emerson found out.”

Taylor said a dislike for confrontational politics is one the main reasons she is leaving the public sphere. She said she is currently considering her options for the future.

“I will probably choose a different sort of career,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of years of public service and its time for the private sector.”

Geoff Dembicki is a staff reporter for The Hook.