Conservative Party (CPC) leadership candidates have until midnight to gather party memberships for those supporters to vote in the election of Erin O’Toole’s successor.
The deadline for joining the party marks the start of a new phase in the leadership contest.
The party’s leadership election organizing committee said at the end of May that it had already broken records for the number of new candidates registered before the June 3 deadline.
“Party membership in the last two leadership races was around 270,000, of which only around 60% voted,” said conservative activist Mélanie Paradis, who remained neutral in the race. “From what I’ve heard from party sources, the number will now be north of 400,000, which means we’ve probably had around 250,000 renewals and 150,000 new members. »
When it comes to the final vote, each constituency is worth a certain number of points, so candidates had to be strategic.
“Get your membership so you can vote to take back control of your life,” Pierre Poilievre’s campaign said in an email to people who signed up for his mailing list but hadn’t yet signed up for become party members. “Join now, because after Friday it will be too late. »
Patrick Brown told his supporters on Thursday that he had already achieved his membership goals, but still urged people on his mailing list to make sure their friends and family were also registered to vote .
“I urge you to forward this email to five people you know, or more if you can, inviting them to join the Conservative Party in support of my leadership campaign,” Brown’s campaign wrote.
The names of Pierre Poilievre, Patrick Brown, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis, Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber will all be on the ballots in the fall.
After the registration of supporters and verifications of these memberships, the different camps will focus on obtaining the vote and will try to persuade the supporters of their opponents to change their allegiance, or at least register the name of their candidate. second choice on the ballot.
Because of the ranked ballot system, voters’ second choice could play a major role in determining the next leader. This is what secured Erin O’Toole’s victory in the last leadership race when he won the support of voters from Leslyn Lewis and Derek Sloan.