(OTTAWA) Now that the second official debate in the race has passed, candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada will focus on selling membership cards before the fast approaching deadline.
Posted at 5:32 p.m.
The election organizing committee said it was already breaking records for the number of new members registered by candidates by June 3 — the deadline for new members to vote on September 10.
Last week, officials expected a “voting base” of more than 400,000 members before the deadline. By comparison, the party had nearly 270,000 registered and eligible to vote members in the previous leadership race, in 2020.
The six candidates vying to replace Erin O’Toole met on stage Wednesday for a debate in French in Laval, in a province where the Conservative Party has never won more than a dozen seats.
A rowdy crowd of several hundred activists cheered and booed throughout the evening, as the candidates took turns attacking each other’s records and positions, including on controversial Quebec laws.
Ottawa-area MP Pierre Poilievre, a frontrunner in the race, which draws large crowds to rallies across Canada, has repeatedly stressed his opposition to Quebec’s secularism law , which prohibits certain officials in positions of authority, including female teachers, from wearing religious symbols at work.
Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Ontario Mayor Patrick Brown, considered his main rivals, both accused Mr. Poilievre of not having clearly stated his position on this law when addressing Quebecers – which he denied.
Ontario MPs Scott Aitchison and Leslyn Lewis, as well as independent Ontario MPP Roman Baber, are also vying for the post of leader. Their ignorance of French did not really allow them to shine on Wednesday evening in Laval.
Attract new faces
Conservative activists are looking for leadership candidates who can bring many new faces to the party, including in Quebec, where membership numbers remain low.
Under new rules passed last year, a constituency must have at least 100 members for candidates to score full points in the preferential ballot system used to elect the new Conservative leader.
A candidate is elected when he obtains more than 50% of the votes. If there are none after the first round, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated from the ballot and his votes are redistributed to the candidates who had been designated as “second choice” by the members.
Speaking to reporters after Wednesday’s debate, which saw Messrs. Charest and Brown repeatedly attack Pierre Poilievre without attacking each other, the former Quebec premier says the mayor of Brampton should not be underestimated in this race. Mr. Brown has a reputation in Conservative circles as an excellent organizer since his days as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.
He spent most of that race criss-crossing the country, meeting different immigrant communities and ethno-cultural groups, encouraging them to become party members to transform the Canadian conservative movement. In particular, he has focused his efforts on the Tamil, Chinese, Sikh, Nepalese, Filipino and Muslim communities.
Mr. Brown promises them a better place at the political table and pledges to end the lottery system for family reunification in immigration. He has also spent the past few weeks conflating Poilievre’s name with two controversial right-wing figures – former US President Donald Trump and France’s National Rally leader Marine Le Pen.
In Wednesday’s debate, Mr. Brown echoed that rhetoric, accusing Mr. Poilievre of trying to woo Canadians sympathetic to Pat King, one of the leaders of the “freedom convoy” in Ottawa, who also married the conspiracy theory of the “great replacement”. Mr. Poilievre denounced the remarks of Pat King.