Conservatives gather to see new leader crowned tonight
Conservatives crown a new leader tonight to take the party into the next electoral battle against Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in 2019.
Staggered ballot-by-ballot results will be announced at the Toronto Congress Centre, site of the party’s leadership convention, after a short tribute to outgoing interim leader Rona Ambrose at 5 p.m. ET. CBCNews.ca is carrying the results live.
About 132,000 party members mailed in ballots, and thousands more voted in person onsite or at a few polling stations located across the country.
There were 16 candidates in the race, but three dropped out, including television reality show celebrity Kevin O’Leary, whose name was left on the ballot due to a late withdrawal.
The federal Conservative leadership convention got underway in Toronto on Friday and will culminate with the results of the race to replace Stephen Harper later Saturday. (Chris Wattie/CBC)
The remaining 13 candidates delivered final speeches Friday night, laying out their vision for the party and the country.
Many of them urged unity after a long and at times rancorous campaign.
Candidates in the race until the end are:
- Chris Alexander
- Maxime Bernier
- Steven Blaney
- Michael Chong
- Kellie Leitch
- Pierre Lemieux
- Deepak Obhrai
- Erin O’Toole
- Rick Peterson
- Lisa Raitt
- Andrew Saxton
- Andrew Scheer
- Brad Trost
Saturday’s program included a farewell tribute to Ambrose, who served as interim leader after Stephen Harper stepped down following the last election.
Michelle Warkentin and Mike Vecchio, both spouses of MPs, also praised her partner, J.P. Veitch, for his support during the last 569 days, calling him one of the party’s “unsung heroes.”
Vecchio joked that Veitch may have had a better attendance record in the House of Commons than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and they presented him with a cardboard cut-out, a reference to the much-mocked cut-outs of Trudeau that were installed in Canadian embassies abroad.
Veitch called it an “honour and an amazing privilege” to have been by Ambrose’s side.
“I can’t wait for our next chapter,” he said.
CBC News special: Conservative leadership convention LIVE0:00
Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-leadership-race-winner-1.4134575?cmp=rss