Manitoba MP, Candice Bergen, has been elected as Conservative Party’s interim leader after Erin O’Toole was removed.
In a recently conducted secret caucus vote, Conservative MPs elected Bergen to replace O’Toole after months of in-fighting badly weakened his grip on the party.
Bergen was deputy leader of the Conservatives under O’Toole and has represented the riding of Portage-Lisgar since 2008. He was also Opposition House leader between 2016 and 2020.
MP Scott Reid, the chair of the national Conservative caucus, said in a statement that nine candidates were in the running for the interim position.
Bergen was selected hours after O’Toole was removed from the leadership role as 73 MPs voted to remove him while 45 MPs lined up in his support.
The vote was needed after 35 MPs signed a petition not long ago to put his leadership to the test.
In a recorded statement released on social media, O’Toole said that he accepted the results. But he had some parting comments about the party’s direction.
O’Toole said: “This country needs a Conservative party that is both an intellectual force and a governing force. Ideology without power is vanity. Seeking power with ideology is hubris.”
Bergen will serve as the interim Conservative leader until a new permanent leader is elected by members of the party.
This will be the third leadership election since former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, stepped down after he lost to the Liberals in the 2015 election.
