13 Conservative leadership contenders sought to make their mark in the race

Maxime Bernier

From Quebec, this MP signalled he was going to make a run for the leadership long before the official campaign began in March 2016. Since then, he’s raked in donations from more than 8,000 people worth upwards of $2 million, and is now the presumed front-runner. He’s built his campaign message around themes of freedom and fairness, including dismantling the decades-old system regulating the supply and price of products like dairy and eggs, despite his party’s long-standing support of it.

Bernier’s not convinced by the science on climate change, nor will he clearly delineate his personal position on abortion, saying he’d support any MP who wanted to bring forward a private member’s bill on that or any other subject. He wants to replace the federal transfer for health care funding with a system that would give tax points to provinces, and also freeze the equalization formula before potentially revamping it.

On immigration, Bernier wants the numbers to go down and says it must not be used as a tool to alter the “cultural character and social fabric” of Canada. His campaign got a boost when celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary dropped out and lent him support. While ahead in internal polls, Bernier has few endorsements among fellow MPs.

Andrew Scheer

Perhaps best known for his time as Speaker in the House of Commons, Scheer has sought to shed that image of neutrality while in Opposition. He promised to cut federal grants to universities that don’t protect free speech, and to remove federal taxes on home energy and offer tax credits for home schoolers. His one-liners during the debates, fluent bilingualism and self-proclaimed popularity with social and fiscal conservatives have been his calling cards during the race. Scheer has the support of a number of Conservative heavyweights, including Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.

Erin O’Toole

The former veterans’ affairs minister entered the race late compared to his Conservative colleagues. Still, he has picked up support among his fellow MPs, including key members of the Quebec caucus. O’Toole was recently credited by former prime minister Stephen Harper’s policy director for having one of the more robust policy platforms in the campaign, including tax exemptions for kids just out of school and a free trade deal focusing on major Commonwealth economies.

Kellie Leitch

Leitch sparked immediate debate when she proposed that people seeking to immigrate to Canada under a screening test for Canadian values. She’s also seized on the populist approach of targeting elites; her campaign was quarterbacked by strategist Nick Kouvalis, who helped propel populist Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to his electoral victory. Leitch’s support has dropped since Kouvalis resigned publicly amid a Twitter tempest, but she’s credited by others for having one the most robust campaign organizations in the race. She’s also a former Harper-era cabinet minister, and a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. She’s been a party activist for decades.

Lisa Raitt

A former Conservative cabinet minister, she was one of few Tories who kept their Toronto-area seats in the last election. Raitt has focused her campaign on her professional and personal roots, seeking to position herself as the perfect foil to the Liberals come 2019; her campaign, however, struggled for public traction on the policy front, be it a promise for more action for autism or dementia, or fiscal proposals such as a greater focus on public-private infrastructure partnerships. She was an early and vocal opponent of O’Leary.

Michael Chong

Chong’s no stranger to making waves in Conservative circles, shooting to national prominence when he resigned from cabinet in 2006 over a resolution declaring Quebec a nation within a united Canada, though he has remained an MP. In this race, he was the lone proponent of a carbon tax, a policy position that drew boos at every party event, but one that also attracted the support of third-party groups who pushed people to buy memberships on his behalf. Chong’s campaign narrative focused on his upbringing as the son of immigrant parents and his life in rural Ontario; he’s been outspoken about some of the racially tinged arguments around immigration that have been part of the race.

Chris Alexander

A fluently bilingual former Conservative cabinet minister and diplomat, Alexander’s role in an infamous 2015 campaign event promising a tip line for “barbaric cultural practices” never quite left him during the race. But he branded his campaign as trying to create a “New Canada,” with aggressive approaches to trade markets in Asia and more immigration, and was one of a few candidates to whom former Conservative cabinet heavyweights Peter MacKay and John Baird lent a hand.

Deepak Obhrai

From Alberta, Obhrai’s the longest-serving Conservative MP and has styled himself as the wise owl of the party during the race, focusing on his Tanzanian roots as proof of the party’s big blue tent. He’s drawn lots of laughs during debates and also O’Leary’s endorsement.

Steven Blaney

The only other candidate from Quebec, Blaney positioned himself as an antidote to Bernier’s support for supply management. A former cabinet minister and current MP, his key campaign pledges have been to dismantle First Nations reserves and resurrect the controversial debate over a ban on face veils during citizenship ceremonies.

Pierre Lemieux

A former Conservative MP from Ontario who lost his seat in the 2015 race, Lemieux has proudly proclaimed he’s running to ensure the voices of social conservatives — in English and French — have a place in the campaign, and had one of the highest numbers of donors in the first three months of this year. His policies include new laws around life issues but also term limits for Supreme Court judges and making overseas adoptions easier.

Brad Trost

Trost, an MP from Saskatchewan, also propelled himself into the race as a voice for social conservatives, albeit a unilingual one. He’s promised a parental bill of rights, tax credits for home schoolers, and wants to invoke the notwithstanding clause to give the government more freedom on refugee admissions.

Andrew Saxton

Saxton served two terms in Parliament as an MP before losing his seat in the 2015 election. His campaign has focused on his private sector business experience. His policy proposals include a fully costed budget balancing plan, which relies on a host of ideas including eliminating the nickel and the $5 bill. For a time in April, other candidates were pressuring him to drop out to help narrow the field, but he refused.

Rick Peterson

A longtime party member, the B.C. businessman has never held office, allowing him to instead position himself as an outsider able to lead the party to victory in 2019. That branding, however, evaporated when the high-profile O’Leary entered the race with the exact same profile. Peterson pledged a 15 per cent personal tax rate for every Canadian, a reduction in corporate income taxes to zero and a four point hike in the GST.

Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

13 Conservative leadership contenders sought to make their mark in the race

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