The Conservative Party of Canada is
reporting 678,708 members ahead of the Sept. 10 party leadership vote, a 300 percent increase compared to the 169,705 figure at year-end last year.
The party has the highest representation in Ontario, with 295,815 members, marking a 283 percent increase compared to last year.
But the biggest rate of increase was in Quebec, where party membership has ballooned from 7,648 by the end of 2021 to 58,437 this year, a 664 percent increase. The province has similarly seen increased support for the nascent Conservative Party of Quebec.
“Almost 680,000 members strong at @CPC_HQ! Incredible and historic! There’s a shift happening in Canada,” Interim Conservative Party Leader Candice Bergen
said in a Twitter post on July 29.
Rob Batherson, president of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC),
noted on Twitter: “Never before in Canadian history have more Canadians been members of any political party than [CPC].”
After Ontario, Alberta has the highest number of CPC members, with 131,860 members, a 272 percent increase compared to last year. Third spot goes to BC, with 99,963 members, an increase of 321 percent compared to last year.
The confirmed party members will be able to cast their ballots in the CPC’s upcoming leadership vote on Sept. 10. Party members will be sending in their ballots by mail and ranking candidates by preference.
“As candidates drop off the ballot, their second-choices are redistributed to remaining candidates until one candidate surpasses 50% + 1 points. Points are allocated according to electoral district, with each electoral district representing 100 points. Points from each riding represent the proportional support for candidates in that electoral district at each tabulation,” the CPC
said in a statement on July 29.
https://twitter.com/CPC_HQ/status/1553018213239296001
CPC has
organized a third official leadership debate on Aug. 3 after holding an English debate in Edmonton on May 11 and a French debate in Laval, Quebec, on May 25.
Conservative MPs and leadership candidates Pierre Poilievre and Leslyn Lewis have both said they won’t be taking part in the third debate.
Poilievre’s team said he’s too busy campaigning while criticizing the earlier English debate’s choice of moderator and format, saying it has been “widely recognized as an embarrassment.”
Lewis wrote to the Tory leadership committee saying the debates have been focused on “usual questions” like carbon taxes and budgets instead of addressing issues she hears about from party members every day, such as concerns about the World Economic Forum and WHO Pandemic Treaty and calls for an inquiry into the pandemic response.
The third debate will be held in Ottawa with Conservative MP Scott Aitchison, former Ontario Independent MPP Roman Baber, and former Quebec premier Jean Charest.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who had also ran as a candidate, was disqualified from the race over “serious allegations of wrongdoing” relating to campaign financing, a charge he denies.
