MARCH 4, 2020 BACKGROUNDER #3

The Conservative Leadership Race: A Progress Report Introduction

The Conservative leadership race reached the end of its first phase on February 27 with the passage of the deadline for potential candidates to enter the election. Eight individuals now have passed the first hurdle in the process and have the status of “approved applicant.”

To reach this initial milestone, each was required to make a down-payment of $25,000 on the ultimate $200,000 registration fee and submit signatures of endorsement from 1,000 party members residing in at least 30 different electoral districts across at least seven provinces and/or territories.

In alphabetical order, the entrants are:

MARILYN GLADU

First elected in the Ontario riding of -Lambton in 2015, Ms. Gladu had a career as a chemical engineer with Dow Chemical, Suncor and the multi-national consulting company WorleyParsons before entering politics. In 2016, she was cited by Maclean’s as the most collegial MP “who consistently works across party lines.”

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RUDY HUSNY

A bright, young staffer from the Harper era, he spent several years as trade minister ’s press secretary, and more recently was director of stakeholder relations in Andrew Sheer’s office. No stranger to uphill challenges, he ran twice in 2011 and 2015 against NDP leader .

JIM KARAHALIOS

A lawyer and anti-carbon tax activist who has headed campaigns to “Ax the Carbon Tax” and “Take Back Our PC Party”, he is a perennial critic of the Ontario PC party establishment.

LESLYN LEWIS

A lawyer and defeated candidate in Toronto’s Scarborough- Rouge Park in the 2015 election, she has impressive academic credentials and is currently Vice-Chair of the Ontario Trillium Fund. She is endorsed by the Campaign Life Coalition.

PETER MACKAY

As leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in 2003, Peter MacKay played a pivotal role in creating the new Conservative Party of Canada. MacKay and then-Canadian Alliance leader agreed that their two parties had reached a stalemate, and that as long as conservatives were divided, the Liberals would continue to rule the country indefinitely. In the Harper government, MacKay served in three key portfolios, Foreign Affairs, National Defence and Justice and Attorney-General. Since 2016, he has been a partner in the Toronto law firm of Baker McKenzie.

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ERIN O’TOOLE

First elected to the House of Commons in a by-election in November 2012, he previously had a career in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Leaving the forces in 2000, he studied law at Dalhousie and then practised in Toronto before entering Parliament. In the Harper government, he served as Minister of Veterans’ Affairs in 2015. In the 2017 leadership, he placed a strong third behind and .

RICK PETERSON

An venture capitalist, he contested the leadership in 2017 and placed 12th with 0.7 of the vote when he was eliminated.

DEREK SLOAN

MP for the eastern Ontario riding of Hastings-Lennox and Addington, he was first elected in 2019. When he announced his candidacy in January, he was repudiated by his campaign manager in last fall’s election for saying that LGBTQ is a “Liberal term.”

Richard Décarie who earlier stirred controversy when he stated that being gay is a “choice” and proposed to “defund abortion since it is not health care,” was denied candidate status. While the party’s Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC) interviewed all the candidates, it has made no comment as to why Décarie was ruled out. Leadership candidates are required to “support the founding principles of the party” in order to be approved.

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Next steps in the party process

When the leadership race got underway in January, LEOC established the detailed requirements that the candidates must fulfill: Requirements

Candidate Due Required Required Required signatures Status registration compliance of endorsement fee deposit Approved By February 27, $25,000 N/A 1,000 (residing in at Applicant 2020 least 30 different electoral districts across at least seven provinces and/or territories Authorized Between entry $25,000 $100,000 1,000 Contestant and March 25,

2020

By March 25, Verified 2020 $150,000 N/A 1,000 Candidate TOTALS $200,000 $100,000 3,000

Contestants for the leadership must move through three approval stages: • Approved Applicants were required to submit $25,000 of the $200,000 registration fee and the first 1,000 membership signatures of endorsement by February 27th.

• Authorized Contestants must submit a further $25,000 of the registration fee, the entire $100,000 compliance deposit, and an additional 1,000 membership signatures of endorsement by March 25th. The second installment of the registration fee and the full amount of the compliance fee are due prior the candidate being eligible to receive membership lists or participate in party sanctioned candidate forums.

• Verified Candidates must submit all requirements: the full registration fee of $200,000, the compliance deposit of $100,000 and the 3,000 endorsements.

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As of February 27, all eight approved applicants have met the first set of criteria. In addition, Erin O’Toole has been confirmed as an “authorized contestant” and Peter MacKay has cleared all three hurdles and is the only “verified candidate.” These stringent requirements were put in place by the party in January to restrict the number of candidates and prevent a repeat of the 2017 leadership race which attracted an unwieldly 13 candidates. The financial entry requirements—registration fee plus the compliance deposit—are the most expensive for a leadership contest in Canadian history. Looking ahead, it remains to be seen whether all the candidates can successfully negotiate these requirements; indeed, for some this is by no means a sure thing. First, with today’s Elections Act restrictions on fundraising, $300,000 (the registration fee plus the compliance deposit) is a sizeable amount of money to raise, and only the compliance deposit is refundable. Second, obtaining 3,000 endorsement signatures of verified and currently paid-up party members is an exacting process and a challenge to achieve without a national organization. Official debates

On February 26, the party announced it will host two official debates among the candidates. The first debate, in English, will be in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on April 17, and the second, in French, will be in Montreal on April 23, at the l’Amphitheatre du Gesù. Policy Content

So far, the candidates have mainly focused on distinguishing themselves from the others on the intra-party “blueness scale,” which has tended to a celebration of small differences. Peter MacKay, Erin O’Toole and have all promised to attempt to force an election as soon as possible if elected leader. With eight candidates having cleared the first stage of the party’s approval process, more substantive policy is clearly in the offing. Policy pronouncements will be of two types: commentary on the issues of the day as they arise—blockades, major project cancellations, the federal budget—and more far-reaching leadership platforms. It’s early days, but here’s a start: • Marilyn Gladu is first off the mark with a comprehensive “Modern Conservative Plan for Canada,” which is available here. Running to 19 pages, it provides detailed policies on prosperity, environment and climate change, health and well-being, Canada and the world, Canada’s economic advantages and truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, among others. • Early in the race, Erin O’Toole released his policies on immigration.

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