A third debate organized by the Conservative Party as part of the leadership race will take the form of a roundtable in Ottawa this Wednesday evening.
Published at 6:00 am.
The reason? Only three of the five candidates seeking control of the party – Jean Charest, Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber – will attend. Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, who is considered to be leading the race, has decided not to take part despite facing a $50,000 party fine. He says he has crossed swords enough with the other candidates that the English debate organized by the party in Edmonton was embarrassing because the moderator asked “unnecessary” questions.
The only woman in the race, MP Leslyn Lewis, has decided to lose because she is unable to address the abortion issue. Jean Charest requested this debate in order to score points at the expense of his main opponent, Pierre Poilivre. The 90-minute discussion will be bilingual. The first part of the debate will be in English starting at 6 pm. The French portion will begin at 6:45 p.m.
Voting has started
According to the collections received by the , more than 80,000 members exercised their right to vote early last week. Pres. It is estimated that about 20,000 people have done so. Members must mail in their ballots along with proof of identification, such as a photocopy of their driver’s license. Ballots must be received by September 6 for counting. The new Conservative leader will be announced on September 10. In total, the Conservative Party said 675,000 members had registered to vote for the new leader. This is a record number among all central political parties. By comparison, the Conservative Party had around 270,000 registered members during the previous leadership contest in 2020. Half of the members then exercised their right to vote.
Pierre Poilievre’s well-stocked kitty
Apart from winning the largest number of members (312,000), the candidate who collected the most donations was Pierre Poilivre. Last quarter, the member for Carleton raised $4.042 million as part of his leadership campaign, according to data released by the Conservative Party on Tuesday. He thus amassed almost three times as much money as his closest rival, Jean Charest, between 1.R April and June 30. Quebec’s former premier has actually raised $1.635 million. Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis came in third with $709,000 in gifts, while Roman Baber and Conservative MP Scott Aitchison donated $404,000 and $363,000, respectively. He was kicked out of the race by party officials last month for allegedly violating it Election Act and party fundraising rules, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown received $541,000 in donations during that three-month period.
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