Jul 17 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Pierre Poilievre may be the front-runner in the Conservative party’s leadership race. But when it comes to one of the main themes of this contest, there’s another contender who has walked ahead of him — and in one case, literally. In mid-June, former Ontario MPP Roman Baber walked for 15 kilometres on the shoulder of […]
Jun 26 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Candice Bergen will begin her final months at the helm of the federal Conservative party by taking a trip intended to send a message: the game of identity politics being played in her party right now needs to stop. Bergen — whose political roots are in the Canadian Alliance — will travel to Atlantic Canada […]
Jun 24 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — A law that allows MPs to eject fellow members from their caucus encourages abusive behaviour inside political parties and that’s unacceptable, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner said Friday. Her comments came in the wake of revelations by the Star that some fellow Conservatives have been threatening Rempel Garner with expulsion from the party’s caucus under […]
Jun 24 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner walked away from running for leadership of Alberta’s United Conservative Party on Thursday, citing the inhospitable internal political environment she’d inherit and a lack of time to fix it. But the high-profile MP is not returning to an overly hospitable federal political environment either. The Star has learned some of […]
Jun 17 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative leadership campaign is going guns a’blazing after his rival Patrick Brown, alleging he’s broken both the party’s rules and campaign finance law. One of Poilievre’s backers has asked the Commissioner of Canada Elections to investigate a report that Brown, who is currently the mayor of Brampton, has city staff working full-time on […]
Jun 14 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Cyma Musarat still remembers being accused of having lost her mind when she ran for the federal Conservatives in 2019. As a Muslim woman, she was asked time and time again how she could cast her lot with a party that promoted policies condemned as racist. In her riding of Pickering-Uxbridge, it was a particularly […]
May 19 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — As they navigate what some have called the “dumpster fire” that is the federal Conservative leadership race, Tory MPs Thursday were grappling with a burning question of whether Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s resignation tosses another log onto the pile or not. Some were quick to dismiss any implications. “I’m not even from Alberta,” said one […]
May 18 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Criticism of Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre’s promise to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada emerged from his parliamentary peers Wednesday as concerns grow about the future of the party after its contentious leadership race comes to an end. Heading into the weekly caucus meeting of Conservative MPs, finance critic Ed Fast said […]
May 17 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Conservative party leadership candidate Roman Baber said Tuesday that if he became prime minister, he’d fire Canada’s chief public health officer over her management of the COVID-19 pandemic. His pledge comes as he trumpeted an endorsement from one of the leaders of this year’s so-called “Freedom Convoy” — a former RCMP officer who broke ranks […]
May 9 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Conservative leadership hopeful Grant Abraham said Monday his campaign fell $30,000 short of hitting the entry fee for this year’s contest, and did not collect enough party members’ signatures. But despite not meeting those thresholds, he still believes he’s earned the right to be on the ballot and wants the party to reconsider. “The handling […]
May 6 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Two men who believed they’d qualified to run for Conservative party leadership only to have their bids rejected are now abandoning efforts to challenge that decision. Toronto lawyer Joel Etienne, who filed a blistering appeal of his rejection including allegations of racism and discrimination, said late Friday afternoon he’s dropping his appeal and feels that […]
May 2 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Only six candidates will vie for leadership of the federal Conservative party after contest organizers rejected applications from three others who claimed to have met the entry requirements. The party made the list of candidates official Monday morning, confirming that Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Patrick Brown, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis and Pierre Poilievre would all […]
Apr 20 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — Dozens of Conservatives are mobilizing to create a new advocacy group in response to concerns that centrist voters are being shut out of political discourse in Canada. Centre Ice Conservatives will style itself as a landing pad for moderate Conservatives to have their voices heard, with hopes that it will eventually also attract those turned […]
Apr 14 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — The federal Conservative party is banning the use of anonymous prepaid credit cards to buy memberships in the ongoing leadership race, the Star has learned. And they’ll also review and potentially revoke the memberships of anyone found to have used such a card as of Feb. 2, the day Erin O’Toole was removed as party […]
Apr 12 2022 — Stephanie Levitz — Toronto Star — A Conservative government led by Jean Charest would expand parental leave to two years and allow pregnant women to access the federal child care benefit. The Conservative leadership candidate is also promising to help parents cover the cost of daycare for children not enrolled in one of the programs for which fees are now dropping […]