OTTAWA — Erin O’Toole is the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, securing victory on the third ballot after a historic and months-long leadership campaign.
“To the millions of Canadians that are still up, that I’m meeting tonight for the first time: Good morning. I’m Erin O’Toole, you’re going to be seeing and hearing a lot from me in the coming weeks and months, but I want you to know from the start that I’m here to fight for you and your family,” he said in his first speech as leader in the early morning hours on Monday.
O’Toole, an MP from Ontario, defeated Peter MacKay, clinching 57 per cent of party support, after picking up down-ballot support from Leslyn Lewis and Derek Sloan supporters. MacKay was narrowly leading after the first ballot but he finished the race in second, while Lewis came in third with a strong showing, and Sloan finished fourth and was the first to drop off the ballot. His down-ballot support was reallocated to the remaining candidates but was not enough to decide the race.
That prompted the third-ballot round where O’Toole picked up considerable support from Lewis supporters.
Scroll down or click here to recap our live blog of the Conservative leadership results.
Reading on an app? Tap here for full experience The support was calculated in points, with 100 points allocated to each of the 338 ridings, meaning there were 33,800 points up for grabs. The winner needed to secure at least 16,901 points to win. O’Toole secured 19,271, with strong showings in Alberta and Quebec. Despite many party supporters viewing the race early on as an easy win for MacKay, it quickly became a tight fight between him and O’Toole. The unprecedented nature of 2020 made some wonder whether there would be some surprising results, depending on how the support for a late-in-the-race surge by Lewis and social conservative-backed Sloan would play out.
O’Toole, 47, was given a chance to introduce himself and spell out his vision for the future and direction of the party, a role he now takes over from Andrew Scheer.
Source: ctvnews.ca
Sunday, May 3, 2026
