Runner Run-Down: The Race for Leadership of the Conservative Party
Spotlight on Alexander, Bernier, Chong, Leitch, and Obhrai
Though the next federal election in Canada is still years away, contenders for the Conservative party’s leadership seem to jumping in and out of the race on a weekly basis. To help parse the real contenders from the others, here’s a look at some of the candidates who have a real shot at replacing Stephen Harper as next leader of the Conservatives.
Chris Alexander, the former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration as well as the former ambassador to Afghanistan, is proposing to increase immigration to 400,000 a year, including 40,000 refugees. He’s calling “for an accelerated push to settle all outstanding land claims and to sign treaties with First Nations communities that would empower them to govern themselves.”
Alexander was prominent both in the Conservative government’s handling of the Syrian refugee crisis and in their promise to create a telephone tip line to report so-called “barbaric cultural practices.”
Maxime Bernier is considered a libertarian and an advocate for limited government, and therefore feels “at odds with his party’s long-held opposition to loosening the laws against recreational…marijuana,” according to the CBC. He is one of the few Conservatives who supports the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana.
Bernier is currently calling for an end to federal transfer payments to the provinces for health care. He wants to lower taxes and pay off the national debt, and also to end corporate bailouts and business subsidies.
According to CTV News, Michael Chong “resigned from [Stephen Harper’s] cabinet over the Conservative government’s motion to recognize the Quebecois as a nation.”
CTV News also reported that the former minister of intergovernmental affairs, “supports lower taxes and preserving the environment, in part by using carbon pricing to lower income taxes.”
Chong told CTV’s Power Play that, following their defeat in 2015, the Conservative party must “reach out to new Canadians and re-earn their trust.”
Perhaps the most prominent contender these days is Kellie Leitch, who has been the target of criticism both before and after she declared her intent to seek the Conservative party’s leadership.
Like Alexander, Leitch was criticized for proposing the creation of telephone tip line to report so-called ‘barbaric cultural practices” around the time of last year’s election. More recently, she has stirred up controversy for promising to devise a “Canadian values” test for immigrants.
According to CTV, “Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch is losing the support of some influential party members over her proposal to screen immigrants for anti-Canadian values.”
According the Toronto Star, she has also described Donald J. Trump’s win of the American presidency as an “exciting message and one that we need delivered in Canada as well.”
