The Conservative Party of Canada will elect a new leader today after a months-long race that was marred at times by great drama and partisan bickering, but also saw record turnout.
To avoid a repeat of the last leadership election – when technical problems delayed the final result until the early hours of the morning – the party began feeding ballots through its counting machines earlier this week.
A team of party volunteers are working around the clock to process the mountain of ballots cast for the five candidates in this race: Conservative MPs Scott Aitchison, Pierre Poilievre and Leslyn Lewis, former Quebec Premier Jean Charest and former Ontario MPP Roman Baber.
A remarkable 417,987 ballots were to be counted this week, according to party figures – an unprecedented number for a Canadian political party contest.
Campaign scrutineers – representatives from each of the leadership campaigns – carefully monitored the process to ensure the integrity of the election.
“We don’t have to worry about problems with the voting machine, so the results should come out smoothly,” said Rob Batherson, party chairman.
“There will be a button pressed and poof, we will see the tab.”
At each round of tabulation, the party will announce the number of points received by each candidate. The first results are expected around 7:30 p.m. ET.
CBCNews.ca will broadcast the leadership election live, with special coverage also on radio, television and CBC’s Gem. Here’s how to watch and track the results.
At an impasse with the liberals
The new leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition will take the reins of a party that is eager to unseat Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and end his nearly seven-year-old government — which has been plagued with problems lately months like continued chaos at airports, passport processing delays, a backlogged immigration system and skyrocketing inflation.
Despite these issues, recent federal polls suggest the Liberals and Conservatives are still neck and neck.
And it may be years before the new Conservative leader has a chance to face Trudeau in a general election, because the confidence and supply agreement the prime minister signed with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this year could guarantee that the Liberals will stay in power until the planned 2025 campaign.
Instead, the new leader’s first task will likely be to prevent the party from fracturing after an often poor campaign.
The two favorites, Poilievre and Charest, have traded beards since the start of this contest in March.
Poilievre accused Charest of being a covert liberal, while Charest in turn criticized his opponent as a radical who sought support from criminals associated with the Freedom Convoy.
Both candidates framed the election as a struggle for party identity – with the more moderate Charest on one side and the staunchly right-wing and populist Poilievre on the other.
Batherson said bitter leadership campaigns are nothing new. He said he expects people to rally around the new leader to confront the common enemy: Trudeau.
“One thing I have heard from grassroots Conservative members from coast to coast is a strong resolve to come out of this weekend united. There is a strong resolve to support the new leader and to advocate for change,” Batherson said.
“When the leader is elected, our focus should be on preparing for the election.”
While national polls suggest the currently leaderless Tories are at an impasse with the Liberals – and there are questions about a possible split within the party itself – the Conservative Party base is clearly energized.
A leadership campaign like no other
The five leadership candidates have collectively sold an impressive number of memberships. Poilievre’s campaign claimed to have sold over 300,000 cards during this run.
Of the 678,702 members deemed eligible to vote, the party received 437,854 ballots by Tuesday’s deadline, a respectable turnout of 65%.
That means hundreds of thousands of Canadians were willing to spend $15 on an annual membership – and went through the sometimes tedious process of photocopying acceptable ID and mailing it with their ballot to headquarters. of the party – to have a say in this leadership race.
These numbers are unmatched in Canadian political history.
More than twice as many votes were cast in this election as in the 2020 contest – another hotly contested leadership election that featured two former cabinet ministers and two well-organized newcomers.
That’s more than four times the number of votes cast in the 2004 contest that elected former Prime Minister Stephen Harper to lead the party.
It’s also far more than the roughly 103,000 votes that were cast in the 2014 Liberal leadership race, which saw Trudeau crowned leader of the party.
Kory Teneycke is a former staffer in Harper’s office and former campaign manager for Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
He said tonight’s event will be like a crowning achievement because Poilievre has sold so many new memberships.
“It’s not going to be a dramatic event,” Teneycke said.
“Obviously people won’t be sitting around waiting to see what the outcome will be. They’ll be waiting to see how Pierre Poilievre positions himself and positions the party.”
How to follow leadership events on CBC
CBC.ca will have updates day and night and will broadcast live coverage starting at 5 p.m. ET.
CBC News will air a live special hosted by Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Barton, joined by Vassy Kapelos, starting at 5 p.m. ET on CBC News Network, CBC Gem and the CBC News app, and at 6 p.m. ET on CBC TV.
Listen to special CBC Radio coverage, live from Ottawa, hosted by Susan Bonner and Catherine Cullen. Starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBC Radio One and the CBC Listen app.
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