Former Conservative deputy leader, Leona Alleslev, has formally joined the party’s leadership race.
Alleslev, who lost her Greater Toronto Area seat during last year’s federal election, revealed her plans at a Parliament Hill news conference recently.
She revealed her plans while standing alone behind a microphone, save for reporters and many of her team members that were in the room.
Alleslev revealed her campaign has a solid foundation and denied that she would have to play catch-up to the other candidates that are in the race, who have been moving around the country selling memberships and campaigning with supporters for weeks.
She said: “Simply because I chose to wait until now to announce doesn’t mean that I haven’t been doing all of the work that the other candidates have been doing.
“I am not behind.”
Alleslev is one of 11 people that have shown interest in replacing former leader Erin O’Toole in the Conservative party’s top job.
The race was propelled after O’Toole was removed by a majority caucus vote in early February.
She defended her Liberal history by saying that her decision to cross the floor based was made on principle.
She said: “In order for (Conservatives) to be successful in an election, to win a majority government, we need a lot of other people to make the same choice that I did.”
