In 2020, the Conservative Party of Canada held a leadership election held to elect a new party leader. The election was prompted by Andrew Scheer's announcement in December 2019 that he would resign as party leader. The election was conducted by postal ballot from mid-July to August 21, 2020, with the ballots processed and results announced on August 23âÂÂ24, 2020. The $300,000 entrance fee made it the most expensive leadership race in the history of Canadian politics, at that time.
Four candidates were running for the position: member of parliament and former veterans affairs minister Erin O'Toole, co-founder of the Conservative Party Peter MacKay, Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis and member of parliament Derek Sloan.
The election was originally scheduled for June 27, 2020, but on March 26, the party suspended the race due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. On April 29, it was announced that the race would proceed by postal ballot with the election itself being rescheduled from June to August. MacKay led the first ballot with 33.52 per cent by a narrow margin of around 2 per cent. O'Toole subsequently led on the second ballot and won on the third ballot, becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party.
On October 21, 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 October 23, there were reports 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 [his] 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 November 6, 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 December 12, 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 ReginaâÂÂQu'Appelle "for the near future". The leadership convention was scheduled for June 27, 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the timing of the leadership election. On March 12, Peter MacKay, Erin O'Toole, Rick Peterson and Leslyn Lewis suspended all public campaign events, while Marilyn Gladu "assess[ed] events and activities on a daily and event-by-event basis", due to public health guidelines. The next day, March 13, Gladu, Rudy Husny and Rick Peterson called for either the race to be postponed or for entry deadlines to be pushed back. On March 19, Husny dropped out, citing an unwillingness to fundraise during a public health emergency. Peterson followed on March 20, criticizing the organizing committee's unwillingness to move the deadlines as unfair.
On March 26, the Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC) postponed the race, as well as cancelling debates planned for April and pushing back the membership deadline to May 15. The LEOC did not set a new date, and said they would revisit the decision on May 1. On April 29, the LEOC announced the resumption of the contest, with the vote taking place entirely by mail-in ballot and without a convention. 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."
On June 19, 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 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 June 20, 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 June 22, 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 â 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 June 24, 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?"
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.
On January 11, 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. Voting was only open to members of the Conservative Party of Canada who had joined the party on or before April 17 (This date was later pushed back to May 15). Conservative Party membership is open to any Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident age 14 or older.
To appear on the ballot, a member must apply to the Leadership Candidate Nomination Committee between January 13 and February 27, with 1,000 signatures of endorsement from party members (which must span at least 30 Electoral Districts in 7 provinces), 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 March 25 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 district, with the first candidate receiving 16,901 points wins the leadership race.
The contest was conducted entirely by postal ballot. To be counted, ballots needed to be completed and received by August 21, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. EDT.
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 March 25, 2020. Verified candidates have secured their name on the leadership ballot.
Leslyn Lewis, 49, is a Toronto lawyer and the former CPC candidate for ScarboroughâÂÂRouge 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, , was the MP for Central Nova (2004âÂÂ2015), and for PictouâÂÂAntigonishâÂÂGuysborough (1997âÂÂ2004). He was Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013âÂÂ2015), Minister of National Defence (2007âÂÂ2013), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2006âÂÂ2007), Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (2004âÂÂ2015). He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (2003) at the time of the merger. Prior to entering politics, Peter MacKay worked as a Crown Attorney.
Erin O'Toole, , is the MP for Durham (2012âÂÂ2023), the Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs (2017âÂÂ2020), and the former Shadow Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (2015âÂÂ2016) and Minister of Veterans Affairs (2015). 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, , is the MP for HastingsâÂÂLennox and Addington (2019âÂÂ2021). Prior to entering politics, Derek Sloan worked as a lawyer in private practice.
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 March 25, 2020, or who disqualified between Stage 1 and Stage 2.
Marilyn Gladu, 57, is the MP for SarniaâÂÂLambton (2015âÂÂpresent), and was the Shadow Minister of Health (2017âÂÂ2020), Shadow Minister of Science (2015âÂÂ2017). Prior to entering politics, she was an engineer for Dow Chemical.
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 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 May 20, 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 (LEOC), a body which the judge stated had the authority to disqualify candidates.
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.
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, , was the Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Opposition Leader Stephen Harper and Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor to then-Premier Jean Charest.
Clayton Knutzon is a former Freedom Conservative Party candidate in Alberta.
Bobby Singh is a Toronto businessman and the former CPC candidate for ScarboroughâÂÂRouge Park, Ontario in the 2019 election. Endorsed Peter MacKay.
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.
CEO and chair of employment firm MaxSys Staffing and Consulting (1993âÂÂpresent), deputy chief of staff to Paul Dick (1993), Progressive Conservative candidate for Lanark-Carleton in 2000.
Withdrew following the release of the leadership election rules. Endorsed Peter MacKay.
Aron Seal, a former policy advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Director of Policy for Tony Clement and Jim Flaherty.
Withdrew saying that new signature requirements and deadlines were "designed to keep outsider candidates out". Endorsed Rudy Husny.
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 (April to the end of June 2020) 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.