Six candidates make the final cut for Conservative leadership race
Global News
Candidates had to submit the full $300,000 required in registration fees and a compliance deposit, along with signatures from 500 party members, by last Friday to be verified.
The Conservative party says six leadership candidates have cleared the final hurdles to getting their names on the ballot, while three others who did not make the cut are pushing back.
Pierre Poilievre, the bombastic Tory finance critic whose rallies have at times drawn thousands, and Jean Charest, the former Quebec premier who is appealing to more centrist Conservatives, are both candidates in the race to replace former leader Erin O’Toole.
So are Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ont., who is promoting religious freedom and making targeted promises to ethnic communities, and Leslyn Lewis, the socially conservative rural Ontario MP.
Scott Aitchison, the Ontario MP pledging to end supply management, and Roman Baber, the Independent Ontario MPP turfed from the Progressive Conservative caucus for his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns, also made the cut.
Candidates had to submit the full $300,000 required in registration fees and a compliance deposit, along with signatures from 500 party members, by last Friday to be verified.
These six candidates will square off in an English leadership debate on May 11 in Edmonton, moderated by former political journalist Tom Clark.
The two-hour debate will focus on candidates, the party says, adding that the debate committee’s mandate is to “educate, engage and energize Canadians” about the race.
The Conservatives will announce their new leader on Sept. 10.