Former Liberal leadership hopefuls Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae indicated Sunday that they still plan to run for the party in the next election despite losing the leadership to Stéphane Dion.

Bob Rae, left, and Michael Ignatieff say they will run in the next federal election despite not winning the Liberal leadership.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

"Oh yeah, I'm not going anywhere," Ignatieff told reporters Sunday.

Dion hosted a luncheon for Ignatieff and the other defeated leadership candidates, their spouses and top aides, a luncheon coming the day after Dion claimed the leadership in Montreal.

"[Dion's] going to be a good leader," Ignatieff said on his way to the luncheon. "He's going to be the next prime minister of the country and I'm going to work real hard to make all that happen."

Rae, who is not an elected MP, also said that it's "still my intention" to seek a seat in Parliament.

"I said during the leadership race that that was the plan and it's still the plan."

Both Ignatieff and Rae suffered a surprising loss to Dion, who came from fourth place going into the convention to win the leadership race. Ignatieff and Rae had been in the first and second spots respectively.

There has been some speculation that Ignatieff, a Harvard professor, and Rae, who had been working in a Toronto law practice, would leave politics if they were not victorious.

At Sunday's lunch, Dion asked his seven leadership candidate rivals for their views on how the party should now proceed.

Rae said the conversation was "candid and very direct and Mr. Dion set a great tone for the meeting."

Gerard Kennedy, the fourth-place contender whose surprise move to Dion on the second ballot likely sealed the outcome, said Dion invited his former competitors to give their "frank opinions about a variety of things," and they obliged.

"So it wasn't just symbolic, it wasn't just for show, it was actually some early indications of cohesion."

With files from the Canadian Press