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Federal Tory Convention Begins In Toronto

The search for a new leader of the official opposition reaches its climax this weekend.

The Conservative Party of Canada is holding its 2017 Leadership Convention Friday and Saturday at the Toronto Congress Centre. This is the culmination of a process that began in the fall of 2015, with the defeat of the Tories by the Liberals in the federal election, and the resignation as party leader of Stephen Harper.

Rona Ambrose had been serving as acting Conservative Party leader since Harper stepped down. She recently announced that she will retire from federal politics once the current spring session is finished in June.

Seventeen candidates had set out to run for the party leadership. Since then, four have dropped out.

  • Tony Clement, Parry Sound-Muskoka MP. He had previously run for party leadership in 2002 and 2004.
  • Daniel Lindsay, radiologist. He had served five tours of duty as a medical specialist with the Canadian Forces.
  • Kevin O'Leary, businessman, author and TV personality.
  • Adrienne Snow, communications consultant.
The remaining candidates include:
  • Chris Alexander, former MP and minister of citizenship and immigration
  • Maxime Bernier, MP for Beauce and former cabinet minister under Harper
  • Steven Blaney, MP for Bellechasse-Les Etchemins-Levis and former cabinet minister
  • Michael Chong, MP for Wellington-Halton Hills, former cabinet minister
  • Kellie Leitch, MP for Simcoe-Grey, former minister of labour
  • Pierre Lemieux, former MP and parliamentary secretary
  • Deepak Obhrai, MP for Calgary-Forest Lawn
  • Erin O'Toole, MP for Durham, former minister of veterans affairs
  • Rick Peterson, venture capitalist and Conservative Party fundraiser
  • Lisa Raitt, MP for Milton and former cabinet minister
  • Andrew Saxton, former MP and parliamentary secretary
  • Andrew Scheer, MP for Regina-Qu'Appelle, opposition house leader
  • Brad Trost, MP for Saskatoon-University
Ballots are expected to be counted after 5pm Saturday. With party members allowed to vote by mail, ballots will be tallied according to percentage points per riding. The candidate with a majority of percentage points nationwide wins. If there is no winner after one ballot, the candidate with the lowest vote total is eliminated and the ballots are counted again, this time including the second choice of those who picked the eliminated candidate as number-one. The process is repeated until there is a winner.

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