Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
TORONTO — The final votes will be cast today for a new leader of the federal Conservative party.
Some 259,000 people are eligible to vote, deciding between 13 candidates running the gamut from former cabinet ministers to one who has never held public office.
All of the contenders made their final pitches to party faithful Friday night at a Toronto convention centre, focusing not just on their own platforms but what needs to come next for the party.
While a common theme has been the need for unity, candidate Erin O’Toole differed in his remarks.
“We do not need a leader to unite us, because we are not divided,” he said.
“Nothing shows the strength of our party better than this leadership race and the 16 exceptional men and women who stepped forward to lead.”
Three have since dropped out: Winnipeg physician Dan Lindsay, former cabinet minister Tony Clement and celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary.
His name, however, remains on the ballot as he dropped out too late to have it withdrawn.
He’s still expected to nab some votes; the Conservatives are using a preferential ballot allowing members to rank their choices from one to ten.
If no candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the vote on the first count, the last-place contender is eliminated and his or her supporters’ second choices are counted until one emerges with a majority.
Most expect several rounds of counting to be required Saturday before a winner is declared.
Many ballots have already been sent in by mail, though members can vote on site at the Toronto Congress Centre Saturday and at polling stations across the country. Polls close around 4 p.m. Eastern.
Ahead of the announcement of the winner, interim leader Rona Ambrose is expected to address the crowd.
She took over the job in the wake of the Conservatives losing government in 2015 and the resignation of then leader and prime minister Stephen Harper.
He wasn’t just the party’s last leader, he’s been the only one.
Harper was elected to run the newly-merged Canadian Alliance and Reform parties in 2004 and went on to take the Conservatives to minority governments in 2006 and 2008 before securing a majority in 2011.
The party would be wise to take some lessons from his leadership, said candidate Lisa Raitt, who served in Harper’s cabinet.
“No matter who prevails this weekend, it is our responsibility, as Conservatives, to rally behind our new leader, the way a previous generation — Reformers, Tories, east, west rallied behind Stephen Harper,” she said.
