Paul Martin resigned the Liberal leadership after the election, and a new leadership contest was scheduled for late 2006. Volpe announced his candidacy on April 21, 2006. During his campaign launch, he said, "We don't need to re-invent the Party. We just need to give it back to the people who are its rightful owners. We need to take it back from the backroom players who hide behind new faces." He highlighted education and training issues, and said that Canada should be more accommodating to new immigrants. Volpe also argued that Canada should return to a peacekeeping ethos in foreign affairs, rather than primarily engaging in combat missions. After the party's first all-candidates debate, he accused frontrunner Michael Ignatieff of echoing the foreign policy vision of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.