Canada's Conservative Party Leadership Campaign

Canada's Conservative Party Leadership Campaign by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC, FEC, CET, P. Eng. Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East Besides the internal and international crises unfolding in the Canadian summer heat, it is interesting to follow the leadership campaign of the Conservative Party of Canada as it heats up. This is the third leadership race since their electoral defeat in 2015, and hopefully will end with the selection of a worthy leader by September 10, 2022. After the loss of the election in 2015 and the resignation of then Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party has chosen two leaders, Andrew Sheer and Erin O'Toole in succession, who were less than stellar. Each of them was asked to resign after losing the elections in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Following O'Toole's resignation a new leadership campaign was called in early 2022 by the Conservative Party in order to select a leader to face PM Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party in the next federal election. The campaign rules were established by the Conservative Party, which by now, has significant expertise in running these events. So the campaign proceeded with 6 candidates innitially approved: Pierre Poilievre, Leslyn Lewis, Patrick Brown, Jean Charest, Roman Baber and Scott Aitchison. After encountering some problems related to campaign financing rules, candidate Patrick Brown was eliminated from the race. So let us see where we stand now. The perceived front runner is Pierre Poilievre, a seven time elected MP, who has fulfilled junior ministerial duties in the last Harper Government. Poilievre served in two cabinet roles under Harper, first as the minister of state for democratic reform from 2013 to 2015, then as minister of employment and social development, until the Conservatives lost the federal election in October 2015. Then we have Jean Charest who has extensive political experience having served as a junior Minister in the Mulroney government and as Premier of the Province of Quebec for several years. Leslyn Lewis is an elected MP in the province of Ontario and an accomplished professional lawyer who ran in the previous leadership campaign and performed well. Scott Aitchisson is an elected MP in the province of Ontario, an accoplished real estate professional, and a municipal politician with good ideas for the country. Roman Baber is a former Ontario MPP who is a lawyer and is very vocal and dedicated in the area of human rights and freedoms. With all these accomplished people runing for the leadership of the Conservative Party and campaigning hard, it seems that the Conservative Party might finnally be able to win the next election. Hopefully we will see consequences in their policies and with the right leader chosen, a real challenge will be made in order to defeat the Liberal government. With the voting of members now in progress, the campaigns are concentrated on persuading voters. Looking at current polls, it seems that Pierre Poilievre has a good chance of securing the leadership. Recently he has also received an important endorsment from former PM Stephen Harper. Former PM Stephen Harper says Pierre Poilievre is the Conservative leadership candidate with the best shot at leading the party to victory in the next federal election. He made his declaration in a recent evening video posted to Facebook and Twitter, in which he described Poilievre's ability to galvanize support from new members as a critical ingredient for success. "That's how we win the next federal election, and in my opinion, Pierre has made by far the strongest case," Harper said. Harper also praised Poilievre, a long time MP serving the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, as a powerful communicator who has identified the most pressing issues facing Canada. "He's been talking about the issues, especially the economic issues, that matter," Harper said, listing Canada's debt, inflation and housing troubles among the problems Poilievre is prepared to address. Harper also said Poilievre recognizes "the need to fix the institutions that are failing Canadian families." A central theme of Poilievre's leadership campaign is a promise to wipe out "gatekeepers" that he says are standing in the way of economic growth and sensible governance. Poilievre also said during a leadership debate in May that he would fire Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem. He's blamed the central bank and Liberal government for overseeing what he says is reckless monetary policy that has pushed inflation to levels not seen in decades. Harper's comments mark the first time the former prime minister has weighed in during a leadership race for the party he helped to form. He did not make any similar public declarations of support in the 2017 or 2020 leadership contests. Nonetheless we need to see how Lesly Lewis continues to work on her leadership campaign. It seems that she is a strong conservative who will have a strong voice in the future. Having said this, I wish good luck to all candidates in the leadership race and the best of luck in finally being able to dethrone the Liberal government in the next election. Canada needs a change for the better! Enjoy the rest of the summer!