2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election

Following the 2021 Canadian federal election, the Conservative Party remained the Official Opposition with a loss of two seats, leaving it with 119 seats in the House of Commons. In November 2021, Senator Denise Batters launched an internal party petition to review O'Toole's leadership. This was the first time the Reform Act leadership-removal provisions were invoked. During the review, held on February 2, 2022, 45 MPs voted to retain him against 73 who voted for his removal. Immediately following his removal the Conservative caucus voted by secret ballot to appoint Candice Bergen as interim leader. In addition to Bergen, eight other caucus members sought to be appointed interim leader, including John Barlow, John Brassard, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Marilyn Gladu, Tom Kmiec, Rob Moore and John Williamson. == Timeline ==

2020 • August 23–24 – Erin O'Toole was elected as Conservative Party leader in the 3rd round of voting. 2021 • September 20 – The 2021 Canadian federal election was held. The Conservative Party remained the Official Opposition with a loss of two seats, leaving it with 119 seats in the House of Commons. • October 5 – O'Toole announced that he intended to remain leader and launched post election review of the Conservative campaign. Party president Robert Batherson decided the petition was not in order. although her memberships were retained in the Saskatchewan Conservative caucus and in the Conservative Senate caucus. 2022 • January 27 – The post election review was completed. Its author, James Cumming, briefed Conservative MPs and Senators on his findings. • January 31 – 35 Conservative MPs submitted a letter to the Conservative caucus chair, triggering the leadership review, pursuant to the Reform Act. • March 8 – Leslyn Lewis announced her candidacy. • March 9 – Roman Baber, Joseph Bourgault, and Jean Charest announced their candidacies. • March 13 – Patrick Brown announced his candidacy. • March 16 – Scott Aitchison announced his candidacy. • March 18 – Bobby Singh announced his candidacy. • March 28 – Joel Etienne announced his candidacy. • March 29 – Grant Abraham announced his candidacy. • April 4 – The Conservative Party confirmed to Postmedia that Leslyn Lewis met the requirements to become a verified candidate. • April 12 – The Conservative Party announced that Jean Charest and Pierre Poilievre met the requirements to become verified candidates. • April 19 – Deadline to announce leadership candidacy • April 26 – The Conservative Party announced that Roman Baber and Patrick Brown met the requirements to become verified candidates. • April 28 – The Conservative Party announced that Scott Aitchison met the requirements to become a verified candidate • April 29 – Deadline to submit all endorsement signatures, full registration fee, and full compliance deposit in order to become a verified candidate and appear on the ballot • May 2 – The Conservative Party announced that the final verified candidates were Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Patrick Brown, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis, and Pierre Poilievre. • May 5 – Canada Strong and Free Network debate. • July 5 – Patrick Brown is disqualified by the Leadership Election Organizing Committee on the recommendation of the party's chief returning officer after receiving information on alleged violations of the financial provisions of the Canada Elections Act by Brown's campaign. • September 6 – Ballots need to be completed and returned by 5 pm EDT • September 10 – Ballots counted, Pierre Poilievre was elected the new leader of the Conservative Party with 68% of the points on the first round == Rules and procedures ==

On March 8, 2022, the party's Leadership Election Organizing Committee released the Rules and Procedures for the 2022 Leadership document. As in the previous two leadership elections, the vote was held under instant-runoff voting in which each electoral district was given 100 points, distributed according to the weight of a candidate's vote in that electoral district. Should no candidate have received more than 50% of the points in a round, the candidate with the lowest amount of points was removed and their points were reallocated to the next highest choice on the ballots that had selected them. Voting was only open to members of the Conservative Party of Canada who had joined the party on or before June 3. Conservative Party membership was open to any Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident aged 14 or older. To be considered as a candidate, a member of the party had to apply by April 19 to the Leadership Candidate Nominating Committee with a completed Leadership Contestant Questionnaire, a written endorsement of the party's Code of Conduct policy document, and a $50,000 deposit. Then the member had until April 29 to provide the remaining $150,000 registration fee, a $100,000 security deposit (related to providing financial filings and adherence to the Rules and Procedures document), and 500 signatures of endorsement from party members (which must span at least 30 Electoral Districts in 7 provinces). The document limited expenses to $7,000,000 and prohibited accepting contributions from non-residents and foreign entities. Media coverage of the 2022 race has described it as "the most expensive-to-enter race in Canadian history". == Campaign ==

, at a campaign rally in April 2022 On March 30, 2022, concerns arose that the party's membership lists may have been compromised and used to make fake donation pledges. Melanie Paradis, a former staffer to Erin O'Toole, posted a warning to Twitter about the alleged breach, saying that she was contacted about a $120 donation pledge she never made. Laurence Toth, spokesman for the Charest campaign, said someone had made numerous false donations pledges using a Ukrainian IP address, saying it was an "obvious attempt to create chaos" for the campaign. In early April, Charest raised the prospect that Poilievre's support for the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa – as expressed in a 10 February podcast during which Poilievre said "I'm proud of the truckers and I stand with them," – disqualified him from being party leader. In response to Charest's comments, Poilievre said Charest was "repeating Liberal lies about truckers" and stated that Charest's consulting work for Huawei "sold out Canada's security" and disqualifies him from becoming prime minister. On April 12, 2022, Poilievre raised concerns of potential fraud through the use of prepaid credit cards to purchase party memberships. The use of prepaid credit cards for the leadership election was banned on April 14. On July 5, 2022, Patrick Brown was disqualified from the race by the party's Leadership Election Organizing Committee. In a statement, Ian Brodie, the chair of the committee, said that the disqualification was recommended by the party's chief returning officer after receiving information on alleged violations of the financial provisions of the Canada Elections Act by Brown's campaign. Aftermath In July 2023, the Toronto Star later revealed that the volunteer who notified the party of the alleged violations by Brown's campaign, had her legal fees paid by the Poilievre campaign. Brown described the move as "dirty" but still supported the party. In June 2024, National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians released a report stating that there was foreign interference in this leadership race by the governments of India and China. The Toronto Star reported that foreign interference done by the government of India and also Sri Lanka due to their opposition to Patrick Brown and his relationships with their diaspora. In March 2025, The Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service found that Indian agents raised money and organized on behalf of Poilievre amid the South Asian diaspora, though neither extensively nor in a particularly organized way. The effort was part of a campaign seeking to gain support from politicians in all parties. CSIS did not have evidence that any senior Conservatives were aware of the effort. Subsequently, Poilievre was not provided this information because he was the only one of the federal party leaders to decline an offer from the government to get the necessary security clearance. == Candidates ==

Verified Disqualified Withdrew or failed to qualify Failed to qualify as verified contestants Approved applicants who failed to qualify as verified candidates. Grant Abraham Grant Abraham, is a lawyer, columnist and unsuccessful candidate in the 2019 United Kingdom general election in the constituency of Strangford, where he stood for the Northern Ireland Conservatives. Abraham attended high school in Abbotsford, British Columbia, before completing bachelor's degree in business and English at Trinity Western University. He completed a law degree at Queen's University Belfast. His candidacy was approved on April 27, 2022, On May 2, 2022, it was announced he did not meet qualifications. Abraham later said that he had met the financial and signature requirements, but that after submitting his application he was told that he had been "deemed ineligible" by the party. He has asked the party for clarification on why he was disqualified. Leona Alleslev Leona Alleslev, 54, is the former Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (2019–2020), and former MP for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill (2015–2021). She launched a campaign website on March 26, 2022, He said it may be designed to exclude candidates from the leadership election. Alleslev had called for a significant increase to Canada's defence spending. Joseph Bourgault Joseph Bourgault, CEO of Bourgault Tillage Tools and founder of Canadians for Truth. Bourgault announced his candidacy on March 9, 2022. He was approved on April 22, 2022. On April 28, 2022, Bourgault claimed to have raised $400,000 and received 1,000 signatures, and was waiting for final approval from the party. However, on May 2, 2022, it was announced he did not meet qualifications. He identifies as of French and Métis heritage. On April 17, 2022, he was approved as a candidate. Dalton said he needed "just a bit more time" to raise the necessary funds. He endorsed Leslyn Lewis for leader. Joel Etienne Joel Etienne, is a lawyer, movie producer, and 2021 candidate in York Centre. He also ran as a candidate for the Canadian Alliance in the 2000 election in Eglinton—Lawrence. He is originally from New Brunswick, and graduated from the University of Moncton. He announced his candidacy on March 28, 2022. His candidacy was approved on April 28, 2022, However, on May 1, 2022, it was announced that Etienne did not meet the requirements and failed to become a verified candidate. Etienne later said that he had met the financial and signature requirements. He is seeking clarification from the on why he was disqualified, but says that he faced "racialized stereotypes" and questions about association with Falun Gong. Failed to qualify as approved applicants Bobby Singh Bobby Singh, is a Toronto-based businessman who was the party's candidate for Scarborough—Rouge Park, Ontario in the 2019 election. On March 18, 2022, Singh announced his candidacy for the 2022 leadership election. By April 29, 2022, he had failed to become an approved contestant. Declined == Endorsements ==

Canada Strong and Free Network invited all declared candidates to its debate, but only candidates who satisfied the party's verified criteria were ultimately permitted to attend. In April 2022, the committee advised candidates that they reserved the right to hold a third official debate in August. Immediately following the announcement, Poilievre said he would not be attending the debate. Under the leadership election rules both face a fine of at least $50,000 if they do not attend. == Membership sales ==

Conservative Party supporters ;Preferred leader {{Image frame | caption=Graph of opinion polls for verified candidates | content = All Canadians Voting intention under each candidate Polls were also conducted to garner the prospective voting intentions of the public for the various political parties under each leadership candidate in a general election. Generally, they demonstrated Charest taking more voters from the Liberal Party, but at the expense of losing CPC voters who would otherwise support the party under Poilievre as a then-hypothetical leader to the People's Party. == Results ==

On September 10, 2022, the Conservative Party announced that Pierre Poilievre had won the election in the first round with 68% of points. Provincial summary Source: cpcleadership.ca == See also ==