A Conservative Party Leadership (CPL) ballot event was held on August 10th at Prairie Harvest Christian Centre with Dr. Leslyn Lewis speaking to multiple crowds in attendance. MP for Yorkton-Melville Cathay Wagantall was in attendance to show her support for Lewis, who is a main CPL candidate. Multiple speaking sessions were scheduled in order to meet current provincial Public Health guidelines requiring crowd sizes to stay below 30 at a time.
MP Cathay Wagantall introduced Dr. Lewis, saying that Canada is at a turning-point, and it did not take her long at all to realize Dr. Lewis is the candidate she wanted to back to lead the Conservative Party in the next federal election; MP Wagantall said Lewis “has courage, compassion and common-sense”.
This courage, compassion and common-sense is demonstrated by Dr. Lewis in actions as well as words. According to Lewis, who is a lawyer, she faced one of her toughest days in 2002. While working at the 1000 Finch Avenue courthouse she noticed that a man, who had been charged with criminal harassment of his same-sex partner, was not being brought into court for a bail hearing. She learned that he slept on the floor for 5 days and was denied his medication while in jail. Infuriated by this human rights abuse, she made a passionate argument for equality before the law, and refused to leave the courtroom until his matter was addressed that day.
The desire to help people, and our country as a whole, was evident as she spoke to conservative voters in Yorkton.
Dr. Lewis opened her speech by saying, “Our country is at a crossroads. You see all the destabilizing forces that we are witnessing, and it just seems that everything that we have built this country on is being shaken.”
COVID-19 has taught us many lessons. Lewis talked about how the food supply chain is being affected. “It’s taught us about simple things like the work that farmers do to get food on our table. That industry has been so diminished and undervalued, and Covid really brought home the fact that we need to re-prioritize things, and that’s what this election is really about. My campaign is focused on our core Canadian values.”
Talking about the values her campaign represents, Lewis said, “There is so much about who we are as Canadians that has really been diminished. I focused on those values and I put forward a campaign that is based on courage, compassion and common-sense. Oftentimes it is really hard to be courageous and to really stand up for what I know is in the best interest of Canada.”
It was not easy to get involved in the leadership race. Dr. Leslyn Lewis’ campaign needed 3,000 signatures which they received from 30 EDAs and 10 provinces. This challenge was not easy. “It was set so that an insider would be able to make that. The only way that I was able to do that was to tie into the network I have of people in institutions like this (public forums). I reached out and said, ‘We have to make this happen because our country is really, really at a turning point. We really have to fight for the soul of this nation’, and that’s what I’ve done. I’ve put forth concrete policies based on strong family values. We’ve seen the core family unit is being eroded. That is the foundation, the bedrock of our society. When we no longer care about families, we no longer care about parents having the right to raise their children in accordance with their values. It means that we have seeded our right to have our sovereign nation, to have a nation that is built upon the foundations of our democracy, which starts with the family; many of my policies have been focused on that.”
To get into the leadership race, each candidate needed $300,000 dollars. Lewis explained, “By the time we got the signatures it was past the first week in March and we had less than 22 days to raise that $300,000.”
The support from Canadians came in droves to boost the Lewis campaign. She said, “I’m telling you, people that believe that our society, our Canadian identity means something and is worth observing. They came up and they stood up, we met that challenge, within 17 days we’d raised that $300,000 with time to go; this is miraculous.”
She continued, “We’ve raised over $1 million dollars in over a few months. We’re now at $1.8 million and we are not beholden to any identity politics or any special interest groups. Who has been there are people who believe in a free and democratic Canada.” The Lewis campaign currently has the highest amount of unique donors compared to other campaigns in the contest; this sends a strong message that many individuals favour the cause.
Due to all the support from individuals, the media started noticing there is something going on here, that people are believing in Leslyn’s message.
In terms of campaign fundraising compared to other candidates, she has received the most support in Saskatchewan, she is first in BC, first in Nunavut, first in P.E.I., first in Yukon and the NWT, and she is doing very well in Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario as well.
Quebec is a difficult battleground if the candidate does not know French to debate. Dr Lewis realized her French was not at the level it would take to be included in a debate and took the initiative to learn what was necessary. After 23 hours of French lessons, Dr. Lewis took part in the debate held in French in Quebec. People thought Quebec would be a write-off for her, but they have over 20% support now in the province, which is unfathomable for a non-French speaker.
Politicians are often attacked for their beliefs versus debated over their political platforms. Outgoing Conservative leader, Andrew Sheer faced intense criticism during the last federal election over his personal beliefs which may have hurt his campaign. Dr. Lewis is getting ahead of the narrative by putting her beliefs out there for the public, prior to any information being twisted by those looking to undermine herself or the Conservative Party.
She recalled the last federal election. During the middle of the election, CBC filed a lawsuit against the Conservatie Party. Dr. Lewis felt that, at that moment, the media showed political bias. She knows the lawsuit could have been held off until the election finished. It had an effect on taxpayers’ perception of the political party and possibly influenced their votes; media outlets have to be more representative of the entire political spectrum. Many news outlets are funded at the federal level. Lewis mentioned that this funding could be utilized to work with news outlets to promote equal political journalism.
“I want to hold our government to account. I want to point the finger at the right people and say, ‘It is your policies that have been crippling our country, and we need to change those national policies’.”
Lewis noticed that there are many people that have conservative values but, for whatever reason, do not connect with the Conservative Party; this can be helped by promoting how one of the fundamental values of the Conservative Party is unity.
Speaking passionately, Lewis said the party has been labelled as racist, and so anybody that is trying to deliver the message would be met with closed ears. “It wouldn’t get out there.” Dr. Lewis is a unique candidate who does not need to be afraid of being called a racist by the media. She is able to get the message out in ways that other candidates may not be able to. She feels she can legitimize true conservative values because, with herself at the helm of the conservative movement, people will have to listen to the message. The false labels that are used against many conservatives do not stick with Lewis.
It is evident that people are actually listening to the unifying message now. Lewis explained how the Conservative Party is as large as it has ever been. She said, “People are now saying, ‘That makes sense. As a parent, I want to be able to teach my children my values and raise them in accordance with my values’. These things are resonating with people.”
“Right now, the messenger is just as important as the message. We have to be able to confront the false Liberal narratives and take back our party, and I believe I’m the right person to do that,” said Dr. Leslyn Lewis.
Lewis is no stranger to facing backlash due to her beliefs. She said, “At first I was diminished because of my values, because I am pro-life, and I said ‘I am not going to be ashamed of who I am’. I am going to go out and say, ‘I live in a democracy, I live in a democracy where people are entitled to have their own beliefs, and my belief in the value of life is no less valuable than someone who doesn’t believe in that…Even being a person of faith, I was questioned about that. ‘How are you going to represent Canadians, and you are a Christian?’. I thought, ‘How does an Atheist represent other people of faith?” Lewis felt that she had to change that narrative. “I’m very fortunate that I was able to do that. Now I’m standing here in front of you and we have achieved the unachievable. We need courageous leaders. We are standing up to the complete destabilization of our country. All these social movements that are popping up, it is people saying ‘Things aren’t going my way so I will destroy the system’; that is what they’re saying. We need someone who is courageous to say ‘No, you will not destroy what we’ve built, we are going to keep fighting for the Canada we’ve created, and we’re going to make sure that Canada is not just here for me, but it is here for my children, and their children and their children’. That’s the courage and conviction that made me step into this race. I saw that the foundations of our democracy were being shaken. I saw provinces threatening to leave our great confederation. I saw social values, the values that I grew up in, to be able to speak freely, those values were being undermined. I saw people being afraid to have conversations with each other because they were afraid of being labelled.”
Lewis reflected, “This is not the Canada that I was raised in. This in not the Canada that my parents came here to make sure that I could be free and I wanted to make sure that that Canada, that beautiful country that I was raised in, that gave me everything, all the opportunities, to the point that I could be educated to the level that I am at, to be able to stand here before you and say that I am running to be the leadership of the Conservative Party.
Dr. Lewis was asked about the concern that she does not hold a seat as an MP and if she could represent the national party. Dr. Lewis maintained that her path has been walked before as Brian Mulroney once became the Prime Minister and started without having a seat as an MP.
She has garnered much respect within the Conservative caucus. “As an outsider, I have the most caucus members supporting me in the history of Canada, as any outside without a seat. That tells you that what I’m doing really resonates with the caucus.”
She mentioned that she is convinced that a seat will appear at the right time. She maintained that right now it is important to do the work to maintain Canada and promote unity, as well as Canadian values, until a seat comes along. An audience member mentioned that fellow Conservaitve leadership candidate Peter McKay also does not hold a seat as an MP.
MP Cathay Wagantall hosted the event and made a mention that “Leslyn is such a team leader.” She explained that when the MPs are in the House of Commons, the party leader is always very involved. The only instance where not holding a seat as an MP would affect Dr. Lewis would be during Question Period, but there are many other Conservative MPs there holding the Prime Minister accountable during this time.
CPL ballots can be dropped off by members at ballot events and drop sites around the country (see https://www.leslynlewis.ca), or sent in via mail. Canada Post Xpresspost is recommended for mail as ballots need to be completed and received by August 21, 2020 at 5:00 P.M. to count.