Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu becomes the fourth official candidate in the Conservative leadership race

Being an official candidate means Gladu can now start accepting donations from supporters as she works toward the next financial thresholds

Nationalpost.com
Feb. 20, 2020
Brian Platt

Marilyn Gladu has formally entered the Conservative leadership race, making her the fourth official candidate along with Peter MacKay, Erin O’Toole and Leslyn Lewis.

Gladu said she’s excited to be past the first threshold, which required a $25,000 fee and 1,000 endorsements from party members, as well as a brief interview with the party’s nominations committee on Wednesday.

“The ballot question for this election is who can expand the base to win against Justin Trudeau,” she said in an interview. “I’m a fresh face with a fresh perspective, a strong dynamic leader that can win the hearts of Canadians, and I’m bringing policy that’s a better balance of fiscal responsibility and social compassion. I think that’s what Canadians want.”

Being an official candidate means the Sarnia-Lambton MP can now start accepting donations from supporters as she works toward the next financial thresholds: $125,000 to get access to the party’s membership list, and a further $150,000 to get onto the final ballot (which must be paid by March 25). Each threshold also requires another 1,000 party member signatures.

Gladu is a two-term MP, has served as chair of the House of Commons status of women committee, and has been the Conservatives’ health critic and science critic. Before entering Parliament in 2015, she worked as a chemical engineer for firms including Dow Chemical and Suncor. She says she’s bilingual, largely from doing work in Quebec earlier in her career.

She is the second woman to enter the leadership race after Lewis was accepted as a candidate last week. The Post has requested an interview with Lewis but her campaign has not made her available.

MacKay and O’Toole are widely regarded as the front-runners in the contest, but Gladu says she’s had a warm reception from party members so far and sees an opportunity to join the race’s top rank -- especially given some of the stumbles from MacKay over the past couple weeks.

She said she’ll be proposing policies around climate change, health care, affordable housing and assistance for veterans and seniors. “I’m going to bring policy ideas to address all of these things,” she said. “I think people, the more they see (of my campaign), the more they like.”

Gladu, along with many other leadership hopefuls, will be at the Ontario Progressive Conservative convention this weekend in Niagara Falls, and says she has other events lined up such as a fundraiser in Alberta hosted by Rona Ambrose and MP Stephanie Kusie. Gladu’s campaign manager is Georganne Burke, a longtime party organizer.

The party has not yet announced any official leadership debates, but it’s expected there will be two or three, all scheduled for after March 25. The votes will be tallied up and announced on June 27 in Toronto.