Conservative leadership becomes three-way race as Strahl opts out

MARTIN O'HANLON
Canadian Press

Friday, January 16, 2004

OTTAWA (CP) - The battle to lead the new Conservative Party of Canada is
shaping up to be a three-way contest between a stolid right-wing ideologue,
a plucky Ontario Tory and the heiress to a billion-dollar business empire.

The field narrowed Friday as Canadian Alliance MP Chuck Strahl, who had
been seriously considering a run, announced he will take a pass. He's the
latest in a line of potential contenders who have opted to stay out of the
race, including Tory caucus leader Peter MacKay, Calgary lawyer Jim
Prentice, New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord and former Ontario premier
Mike Harris.

The only two declared candidates are former Alliance leader Stephen Harper
and former Ontario health minister Tony Clement. Belinda Stronach, the head
of auto-parts giant Magna International, is to formally announce her
candidacy next week.

Strahl, best known for leading the coup that led to the demise of Stockwell
Day as Alliance leader in 2001, said he hasn't been able to raise the money
and resources to mount a successful bid. "Unfortunately, while I have
received generous support from many people, I have not been able to reach
all of my benchmarks in time to launch and maintain a leadership bid,"
Strahl said in a release.

Clement, 42, plunged into the race Thursday on a thinly veiled
anybody-but-Harper platform. Both Clement and Stronach enter the race far
behind Harper in organizational strength. The campaign rules, however, go a
long way to counterbalance Harper's Alliance foundation in western Canada.

Conservative members in every federal riding will vote for their leader of
choice in the March 19-21 vote, with each riding worth 100 points and the
spoils divided proportionately. A riding in Quebec with 50 party members
carries as much weight as one in Alberta with 2,000 - and Quebec has more
ridings than Alberta and British Columbia combined.

Clement, who lost his provincial seat in last fall's Ontario election,
points to his experience in two Tory governments, including his handling of
last year's SARS health crisis. He said that experience gave him a personal
reason for wanting to fight Prime Minister Paul Martin, who as finance
minister slashed health transfers to the provinces. Clement also proudly
says that while Harris appears to be endorsing Stronach, much of his Common
Sense Revolution team is on Clement's campaign.

Stronach, the daughter of auto-parts magnate Frank Stronach, has been
involved behind the scenes in Ontario and federal conservative politics for
several years. She has promoted the participation of young Canadians in
political life and is involved in a number of charities. Her campaign team,
sources said, includes many top Tories and she may get an endorsement from
former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

Besides the lack of candidates, the new Conservative party - born out of a
merger of the Alliance and the Tories - has been hurt by high-profile
defections that have painted it as unwelcoming to socially moderate
conservatives. Alliance MP Keith Martin announced Wednesday that he's
abandoning the new party to sit as an independent and run for the Liberals
in the next election. A day earlier, Andre Bachand, the only Tory MP from
Quebec, said he will sit as an independent until an election is called and
then retire. Former prime minister Joe Clark and MP John Herron have both
left the Tory caucus to sit as independents and said they will not run for
the new Conservatives.


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