Global Information2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election information
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 54.57%[1] | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | May 27, 2017 |
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| Convention | Toronto Congress Centre, Toronto |
| Resigning leader | Stephen Harper |
| Won by | Andrew Scheer |
| Candidates | 13 |
| Entrance Fee | C$100,000 ($50,000 of which is a refundable compliance deposit)[2] |
| Spending limit | C$5,000,000 |
The 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was held on May 27, 2017. Party members chose Andrew Scheer as leader, replacing Stephen Harper, who led the Conservative Party of Canada as its leader from 2004 following the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties. Harper led the party through five federal elections: the party increased its seat count in the House of Commons in 2004, formed two minority governments in 2006, and 2008, and then a majority government in 2011. Following the defeat of the party in the 2015 federal election on October 19, Harper tendered his resignation as party leader.[3] In a statement, Conservative Party President John Walsh said he had spoken to Harper, "and he has instructed me to reach out to the newly elected parliamentary caucus to appoint an interim Leader and to implement the leadership selection process."[3]
259,010 party members were eligible to vote in the leadership contest.[4] 141,000 members cast a vote. According to raw voting figures, Scheer received 62,593 votes on the final ballot compared to 55,544 votes for Bernier with 23,000 voters who had voted in the first round ranking neither Scheer or Bernier in their ranked ballot. Votes were apportioned among ridings so that each riding was allocated 100 points, regardless of the number of voters, resulting in 17,222.20 points (50.95%) for Scheer and 16,577.80 points (49.05%) for Bernier.[5]
Subsequent to the election, fourth placed candidate Brad Trost and his campaign were fined $50,000 by the Conservative Party of Canada for allegedly leaking the party's membership list to the National Firearms Association. Trost denied that he or any of his staff leaked the list.[6] On February 11, 2019, the Conservative Party released a statement from its Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC) which concluded: "In short, LEOC does not believe there is evidence that the Trost Campaign was responsible for leaking of the membership list...."[7] The fine was therefore removed from the Brad Trost Campaign. Trost went on to lose renomination as the party candidate for his riding during the 43rd Federal election on March 10, 2018, to Corey Tochor, former speaker of the Saskatchewan Legislature.[8]
Criticism has been raised about how the party memberships were handled, with some prominent members saying they never received a ballot, even after contacting the party about it.[9]
In addition, the result of the leadership race and party handling was questioned by some supporters of such as runner-up Maxime Bernier and fifth place candidate Kellie Leitch due to discrepancies in the final ballot count, specifically a gap between the number of ballots cast and the announced result – a 7,466 vote discrepancy, which is greater than Andrew Scheer's 7,049 votes margin of victory in the final round. There was criticism over the exact role of the accounting firm Deloitte during the voting process – a deal revealed that Deloitte was not specifically tasked with auditing the vote but "observe" the counting process.[10][11] It was also reported that some of Brad Trost's supporters contravened the Elections Act and party membership rules by offering incentives to vote. Dimitri Soudas, a former Stephen Harper aide, pointed out that it violated election rules and it benefited Scheer's campaign but the ballots have been destroyed so the results stood.[12]
Many considered Scheer's victory as an upset, given Bernier's consistent frontrunner status in the polls.[13]
- ^ CBC News. "Andrew Scheer wins Conservative leadership race". YouTube. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ "Conservative Party of Canada Rules and Procedures for the 2016-2017 Leadership" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 1, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
reswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Grenier, Éric (April 25, 2017). "259,010 eligible to vote in Conservative leadership race". CBC News. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
- ^ Éric Grenier (May 29, 2017). "Popular vote numbers reveal wider margin of victory for Andrew Scheer". CBC News. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
- ^ "Tory MP ready to go 'all the way' in legal fight with party | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
- ^ "News". Canada's Official Opposition. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Scheer lays out Conservative economic vision, but withholds specifics". The Globe and Mail. June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
- ^ "New concerns emerge over Conservative leadership voting process". The Globe and Mail. June 4, 2017. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
- ^ Fife, Robert; Stone, Laura; Leblanc, Daniel (June 2, 2017). "Bernier camp casts doubt on Conservative leadership vote". The Globe and Mail.
- ^ "Discounts offered in exchange for Conservative Party membership, documents show - CityNews Toronto". CityNews Toronto. June 23, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ Boutilier, Alex (May 27, 2017). "Andrew Scheer wins Conservative leadership in major upset". The Toronto Star.