Here’s what you may have missed about the candidates, from who they are to what they are pitching.The only woman in the race, Lewis, 49, is the only candidate who can call herself doctor (she completed a PhD in law last summer, defending a thesis on,attracting foreign investment for green energy projects in Ghana,She is also the only candidate with no experience as an elected representative. They have not been given the questions in advance, he added.Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the candidates’ campaigns have mostly been reduced to Zoom sessions, phone calls, social media posts and emails to party members. Share on Facebook. ".The winner will be announced tonight in a hybrid in-person and virtual event that will feature a tribute to outgoing leader Andrew Scheer, as well as a province-by-province reveal of the results featuring well-known Tories.Around 270,000 party members were eligible to vote in the race, and according to a count released by the party on Saturday, about 175,000 did.The party uses a ranked ballot, meaning members rank candidates in order of preference. The vote on the speech is a confidence motion and the Liberals have all but dared the Tories to try and bring them down.Two: the new leader will have to unite the party after a fractious leadership contest also dramatically impacted by the pandemic itself.The new leader will be chosen Sunday night. ".MacKay has said a mix of tax cuts — such as a 100 per cent capital cost allowance write-off for equipment purchases — and programs to retrain workers for technologically advanced factories will help a manufacturing sector that was once the economic bedrock of the country's largest province.John Paul (J.P.) Tasker is a reporter in the CBC's Parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. "We have shocked the pundits, many in our own party, and Canadians right across the country who had forgotten what happens when you give the grassroots a real voice," she said.The fundraising totals — MacKay at over $3 million, O'Toole over $2 million as well and Sloan at around $900,000 — came even as the candidates campaigned during a period of mass upheaval in the country.The COVID-19 pandemic forced the delay of the race itself; the vote was originally scheduled for June but punted as efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus shut down the country.While for a time, the candidates themselves were asked not to actively campaign, they were let loose again on the party membership in the spring, but forced into an entirely new way of campainging.Rather than hundreds of in-person meet-and-greets with party members, the campaigns for a time went entirely virtual. ).A Pentecostal, Lewis has the backing of two influential social conservative groups, Right Now (she’s their top choice) and Campaign Life Coalition (she’s their second choice). He said it was “appalling” that O’Toole had twice voted “for grown men to use the bathroom with my young daughters,” playing up a harmful stereotype about transgender women using public facilities.“The boldest thing my fellow pro-life candidate Leslyn Lewis has said on abortion is that ‘a fetus shouldn’t be terminated on the basis of its sex.’ While I agree, that is setting the bar very low,” he wrote.Sloan and his wife, Jennifer, have three young children: Fiona, Callum, and Nora.Get the top stories emailed every day. ".Lewis, the Toronto lawyer and relative political neophyte, ended her campaign with nearly $2 million in donations. ".He is also promising to work with the provinces to pass legislation requiring "full disclosure" to women prior to the procedure — a measure that would require that women get an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion.O'Toole and MacKay have released economic plans they say will help Canada's economy out of the pandemic slump that has left millions unemployed.The plans include a mix of fiscal prudence — such as O'Toole's promise to wind down the Canada emergency response benefit (CERB) — and tax incentives to restore the economy to health.But both candidates have shied away from the more aggressive cost-cutting approach recently advocated by former prime minister Stephen Harper in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.Instead of pushing for an early austerity drive, O'Toole and MacKay are talking about returning to balanced budgets and a more normal level of spending over time, as the country starts the slow climb out of pandemic-induced shutdowns.The candidates have even suggested they'd extend some Liberal initiatives.While critical of the current level of government spending, both promised to continue the Canada emergency business account (CEBA) program — which extends credit to businesses and includes a grant of up to $10,000 — for another year to help smaller businesses get through this crisis.MacKay has suggested business operators in two of the hardest hit sectors of the economy — restaurants and tourism — should be permitted to stop charging GST to make their services more affordable for consumers who have all but abandoned them over the last three months because of physical distancing measures.O'Toole is proposing a "new hire incentive" that would reduce the employment insurance premiums that small- and medium-sized businesses pay if they add new workers.MacKay and O'Toole are pitching plans to restore Canada's manufacturing base, with promises to build domestic capacity for making medical equipment so that Canada will be self-sufficient if it's hit with another pandemic.Canada has relied on China and the U.S. throughout the pandemic for masks and ventilators.O'Toole said Canada needs domestic supplies of these goods so we "no longer need to rely on supply chains stretching to China to supply critical life-saving needs in future emergencies.
Candidates for the Conservative leadership are now hours away from the polls closing in the race to succeed outgoing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. "I keep asking myself, as a candidate, would I have preferred to do it this way? This time, however, O’Toole is pitching himself as the candidate who offers Western Canada the strongest voice, and a leader who will govern to the right of Peter MacKay, notably when it comes to social issues. He has said he pursued a law degree in order to defend religious freedoms.The missive unleashed a wave of criticism, with many calling the attack racist. There is a week left in the federal Conservative leadership campaign, and the pressure is on.