The third round table debate organized by the Conservative Party as part of the leadership race will take place in Ottawa this Wednesday evening.
Posted at 6:00 am
The reason? Only three of the five candidates seeking to take control of the party – Jean Charest, Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber – will attend. Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, considered the frontrunner in the race, decided not to run despite facing a $50,000 party fine. He said he had clashed with other candidates enough and that the party’s last English-language debate in Edmonton caused trouble when the moderator asked “unnecessary” questions.
The only woman in the race, MP Leslyn Lewis, also decided to forfeit because she found it impossible to address the abortion issue. Jean Charest demanded this debate to score points at the expense of his main rival, Pierre Polivre. The 90-minute discussion will be bilingual. The first part of the discussion will be in English starting at 6 pm. The French portion begins at 6:45 p.m.
Voting has started
As of early last week, more than 80,000 members had exercised their right to vote, adds Press. About 20,000 are estimated to have done so. Members must mail in their ballot with proof of identity, such as a photocopy of their driver’s license. Counting of votes should be done by 6th September. 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 federal political parties. By comparison, the Conservative Party had about 270,000 registered members in the previous leadership race in 2020. Almost half of the members exercised their right to vote.
Pierre Poilievre’s well-stocked kitty
Pierre Poilivre was the candidate who collected the most donations, succeeding in recruiting the largest number of members (312,000). In the last quarter, the Carleton MP raised $4.042 million as part of his leadership campaign, according to data released by the Conservative Party on Tuesday. He thus amassed nearly three times as much money between 1 as his nearest rival, Jean Charest.er April and June 30. The former premier of Quebec actually collected 1.635 million dollars. Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis came in third with a $709,000 gift, followed by Roman Baber and Conservative MP Scott Aitchison with $404,000 and $363,000 in donations, respectively. Last month, party officials dropped him from the race for alleged violations Election Act And party fundraising rules, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown received $541,000 in donations during that three-month period.
