2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election


The 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election will be held by postal ballot in August 2020 to choose a successor to Andrew Scheer, who announced his pending resignation as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. The $300,000 entrance fees also make it the most expensive leadership race ever in Canadian politics.
On 26 March 2020, the party suspended activities pertaining to the 27 June 2020 leadership election due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic crisis in Canada. Party officials said they would revisit their decision on 1 May 2020. On 29 April 2020, it was announced that the race would proceed by postal ballot with the election itself being rescheduled from June to August. To be counted, ballots need to be completed and received by 21 August 2020 at 5:00pm EST.

History

Background

On 21 October 2019, the 2019 Canadian federal election was held. The Conservatives remained in opposition against a minority Liberal government. Under the Conservative Party's constitution, an election loss results in a leadership review at the next party convention. The following day, Scheer announced his intention to remain leader of the party.
As early as 23 October, there were reports of that party members were already privately voicing dissatisfaction with Scheer's leadership, and suggestions that he could face a leadership challenge at the next party convention in April. By the end of the month, Conservative figures were making their criticism public, and an online petition was launched that called for Scheer to resign. Former MP and cabinet minister Peter MacKay described the election as "like having a breakaway on an open net and missing the net"; he attributed the loss to Scheer's socially conservative views, which he said "hung around neck like a stinking albatross" and distracted from other policies and issues. MacKay's comments additionally fuelled speculation that he was vying for the leadership.
On 6 November, Scheer met with the Conservative caucus for the first time since the election, where they discussed the federal election and why the party failed to win. Scheer attributed the loss not to policy, but poor communication. During the meeting, the caucus voted against adopting the provisions of the Reform Act; as adopting them would have allowed the caucus to begin the process of ousting Scheer, his leadership was seen as safe until the April convention. However, criticism did not abate; a report in the Toronto Star cited calls for Scheer's resignation from within the business community, energy sector and several high-profile party insiders.
On 12 December, Scheer announced that he was stepping down as leader, pending the election of his successor. He also said he would stay on as MP for Regina—Qu'Appelle "for the near future". The leadership convention was scheduled for 27 June 2020.

Impact of the coronavirus pandemic

The on-going COVID-19 pandemic affected the timing of the leadership election. On 12 March, Peter MacKay, Erin O'Toole, Rick Peterson and Leslyn Lewis suspended all public campaign events, while Marilyn Gladu "assess events and activities on a daily and event-by-event basis", due to public health guidelines. The next day, 13 March, Gladu, Rudy Husny and Rick Peterson called for either the race to be postponed or for entry deadlines to be pushed back. On 19 March, Husny dropped out, citing an unwillingness to fundraise during a public health emergency. Peterson followed on 20 March, criticizing the organizing committee's unwillingness to move the deadlines as unfair.
On 26 March, the Leadership Election Organizing Committe postponed the race, as well as cancelling debates planned for April and pushing back the membership deadline to 15 May. The LEOC did not set a new date, and said they would revisit the decision on 1 May. On 29 April, the LEOC announced the resumption of the contest, with the vote taking place entirely by mail-in ballot and without a convention. The ballot must be completed and received by 21 August. No definitive date was set for when the results would be announced, but the LEOC clarified that the results would be announced "as soon as those ballots can be properly processed and examined by scrutineers while respecting any health guidelines in place at that time."

Allegations of hacking

On 19 June, Erin O'Toole accused MacKay's campaign of theft of confidential campaign data and strategy including Zoom conference videos after discovering that their "systems were hacked earlier this week". Later that day, O'Toole filed a filed a formal complaint and requested that the RCMP, OPP, and Toronto Police Service investigate Peter MacKay's campaign and his senior campaign staff member Jamie Lall.
On 20 June, MacKay's campaign dismissed the allegations and called them a "desperate, last ditch strategy" and "mildly amusing." Lall publicly denied the allegations in a post on his personal Twitter account.
On 22 June, the National Post reported that the O'Toole campaign received a confession letter from MP staff member implicating Lall and describing him as a "senior regional adviser to the Peter MacKay campaign." Later in the day, the RCMP released a statement saying they have begun an investigation into O'Toole's allegations against the MacKay campaign, while Lall stated that he is "aggressively pursuing" legal action against the O'Toole campaign. MacKay spokesperson Chisholm Pothier told CBC News Tuesday that the O'Toole team sent its confidential passwords and logins to more than 300 MPs and their political staff members — something Pothier said was done "negligently and with no reasonable expectation of privacy." In response, O'Toole campaign manager Fred DeLorey tweeted, "this is a willful attempt at deception. There is a big diff between sending invitees a code for specific meetings and someone breaking into the private admin and stealing all of the files. The former is standard operations, the latter is a crime. That is what is being investigated."
On 24 June, an ex-staff member to MP Greg McLean admitted to trying to leak Erin O'Toole's confidential video records, but says the MacKay campaign turned him down, according to Toronto Star's Alex Boutilier and Kieran Leavitt. MP McLean later tweeted, "sadly, this is completely inconsistent with what was told to me and senior O'Toole officials by this young man. I know not to trust this. The police investigation will determine the truth" Erin O'Toole Campaign staff member Anthony Koch also tweeted, "how do you explain the Calgary and midtown Toronto IP addresses that accessed the zoom admin account illegally multiple times over the course of a week and downloaded over 140 unique videos?"

Timeline

2019

The fifth debate was turned into a fireside chat with the remaining two candidates after Leslyn Lewis released a statement sending her regrets due to a medical issue. Soon after Peter MacKay chose to not attend the debate.

Rules and procedures

On 11 January 2020, the party's Leadership Election Organizing Committee released the Rules and Procedures for the 2020 Leadership document. It confirmed the vote would be held under instant-runoff voting, open to those who are members of the Conservative Party of Canada as of 17 April. To appear on the ballot, a member must apply to the Leadership Candidate Nomination Committee between 13 January and 27 February, with 1,000 signatures of endorsement from party members, a $25,000 installment of the registration fee and a completed 42-page Leadership Contestant Questionnaire, which requires them to declare they accept "the policies, principles, goals and objectives" of the Conservative Party. If approved by the Committees, the applicant has until 25 March to provide the remainder of the 3,000 endorsement signatures and $200,000 registration fee. In addition a $100,000 Compliance Deposit is required prior to 25 March but is returned upon completing required financial filings and adhering to Rules and Procedures document. As in the 2017 leadership election, each electoral district is given 100 points which are distributed according to weight of a candidate's vote in that electoral distribute, with the first candidate receiving 16,901 points winning the contest.

Candidates

Verified candidates are authorized contestants that have paid the full $200,000 registration fee, the entire $100,000 compliance deposit, and submitted all 3,000 required signatures of endorsement by 25 March 2020. Verified candidates have secured their name on the leadership ballot.

Leslyn Lewis

;Background
Leslyn Lewis, 49, is a Toronto lawyer and the former CPC candidate for Scarborough—Rouge Park, Ontario in the 2015 election. Leslyn Lewis holds a bachelor's degree from University of Toronto, two master's degrees, a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and a PhD in International Law. Leslyn Lewis is also a Vice Chair of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and Chair of the Partnership Committee.

Peter MacKay

;Background
Peter MacKay,, was the MP for Central Nova, and for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough. He was Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of National Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada at the time of the merger. Prior to entering politics, Peter MacKay worked as a Crown Attorney.

Erin O'Toole

;Background
Erin O'Toole,, is the MP for Durham, the Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the former Shadow Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Minister of Veterans Affairs. He placed third in the 2017 Conservative leadership election. Prior to entering politics, Erin O'Toole served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he held the rank of Captain, and was a lawyer after completing military service.

Derek Sloan

;Background
Derek Sloan,, is the MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington. Prior to entering politics, Derek Sloan worked as a lawyer in private practice.

Platforms

Fundraising

PeriodPeter MacKayErin O'TooleLeslyn LewisDerek Sloan
Q1
3,3554,1742,9412,478
Q2
6,8497,8069,327TBD
Total
10,20411,98012,268TBD

PeriodPeter MacKayErin O'TooleLeslyn LewisDerek Sloan
Q1
$1,045,851$784,997$447,646$410,263
Q2
$1,283,000$1,316,000$992,000TBD
Total
$2,329,000$2,101,000$1,439,000TBD

PeriodPeter MacKayErin O'TooleLeslyn LewisDerek Sloan
Q1
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Nova Scotia
Manitoba
Quebec		Alberta
British Columbia
Ontario		Prince Edward Island
Saskatchewan
Combined total from Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
Q2
TBDTBDTBDTBD
Total
TBDTBDTBDTBD

During the first quarter Marilyn Gladu raised $94,734, Rick Peterson raised $35,598 and Rudy Husny raised $28,941. They withdrew from the leadership race during the first quarter. Jim Karahalios raised $294,522 from 1,700 donors, but was disqualified.
Some numbers for the second quarter were obtained by The Globe and Mail and confirmed with the campaigns. The Conservative Party has not confirmed any numbers for the second quarter. Finalized numbers must be submitted to Elections Canada at the end of July and should be available some time after.

Withdrew or failed to qualify

Failed to qualify as authorized contestants

Approved applicants who failed to pass the second qualification stage that required 2,000 signatures and the submission of the full $100,000 compliance fee and at least $50,000 of the entrance fee by 25 March 2020 or who disqualified between Stage 1 and Stage 2.

Marilyn Gladu

;Background
Marilyn Gladu, 57, is the MP for Sarnia—Lambton, and was the Shadow Minister of Health, Shadow Minister of Science. Prior to entering politics, she was an engineer for Dow Chemical.

Rudy Husny

;Background
Rudy Husny is Director of Stakeholder Relations in the Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition and candidate in Outremont in 2011 and 2015.
Withdrew due to tight election timeline and rules. Husny cited the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis as his stated reason for suspending his campaign, saying it is just not right to ask people for money during a public health emergency.

Jim Karahalios

;Background
Jim Karahalios is a corporate lawyer and founder of activist groups "Axe The Carbon Tax" and "Take Back Our PC Party". He sued the Ontario PC party after narrowly losing an election in November 2018 for party president, but the case has not yet been tried. He is accusing the Ontario PC party of ballot stuffing in that election.
Karahalios obtained the required 3,000 verified signatures and collected $300,000 for the entrance fee, but CPC officers refused to put his name on the ballot. The exact reasons for Karahalios's disqualification were not released. Karahalios contested the disqualification in court. On 20 May 2020, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice reinstated his candidacy. The judge's decision was made on the basis that the subcommittee which disqualified Karahalios did not have the authority to do so. The day after Karahalios was reinstated as a candidate, he was disqualified by the leadership election organizing committee, a body which the judge stated had the authority to disqualify candidates.

Rick Peterson

;Background
Rick Peterson,, is a venture capitalist, party fundraiser, principal of Peterson Capital, and a former candidate for leadership of the British Columbia Conservative Party. He was a member of the Progressive Conservatives at the time of the merger. He ran and placed 12th in the 2017 Conservative leadership election.
Withdrew due to tight election timeline and rules. Peterson also cited the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis as his stated reason for suspending his campaign. Endorsed Peter MacKay.
;Policies:
Declared candidates who failed to pass the first qualification stage by obtaining at least 1,000 signatures, submit at least $25,000 of the entrance fee by 27 February 2020 and/or pass the vetting process.

Richard Décarie

;Background
Richard Décarie,, was the Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Opposition Leader Stephen Harper and Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor to then-Premier Jean Charest.
;Notes:Décarie advocated for social conservative values.  "I think 'LGBTQ' is a Liberal term. I don't talk about people that way, I talk about persons, and I think we all need the full respect for being a human being." When asked by an interviewer whether "being gay" was a "choice" or not, Décarie said that it was.  This answer lead to calls by Kory Teneycke, a former senior aide to both Stephen Harper and Doug Ford, that he be barred from running. Décarie acquired the required number of signatures and paid the deposit but was disqualified by the party following his interview with the nomination committee. Endorsed Derek Sloan.

Clayton Knutzon

;Background
Clayton Knutzon is a former Freedom Conservative Party candidate in Alberta.

Bobby Singh

;Background
Bobby Singh is a Toronto businessman and the former CPC candidate for Scarborough—Rouge Park, Ontario in the 2019 election. Endorsed Peter MacKay.

Irvin Studin

;Background
Irvin Studin is a senior fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, a Rhodes Scholar, former professional soccer player with the Toronto Lynx, and served in the Privy Council Office between 2002 and 2006.

Withdrawn prior to 27 February 2020

Bryan Brulotte

;Background
CEO and chair of employment firm MaxSys Staffing and Consulting, deputy chief of staff to Paul Dick, Progressive Conservative candidate for Lanark-Carleton in 2000.
;Notes
Withdrew following the release of the leadership election rules. Endorsed Peter MacKay.

Aron Seal

Aron Seal, a former policy advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Director of Policy for Tony Clement and Jim Flaherty.
;Notes
Withdrew saying that new signature requirements and deadlines were "designed to keep outsider candidates out". Endorsed Rudy Husny.

Declined

After candidate registration deadline

Conservative Party members

Conservative Party supporters

All Canadians

Before candidate registration deadline

Conservative Party supporters

All Canadians