Andrew Scheer当选为加拿大保守党领袖
- 主题发起人 ccc
- 开始时间
- 注册
- 2003-04-13
- 消息
- 238,942
- 荣誉分数
- 37,371
- 声望点数
- 1,393
- 注册
- 2003-04-13
- 消息
- 238,942
- 荣誉分数
- 37,371
- 声望点数
- 1,393
Inside the 'moment of truth' for Kevin O'Leary's campaign
A late-night meeting sealed the decision to quit
By Catherine Cullen, CBC News Posted: Apr 26, 2017 9:26 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 26, 2017 9:26 PM ET
Celebrity investor and reality TV star Kevin O'Leary is quitting the federal Conservative leadership race and throwing his support behind Quebec rival Maxime Bernier. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)
Three key members of Kevin O'Leary's leadership team sat down with him last Thursday on a patio near his campaign office and cracked open a beer. They had a pointed question to pose that would have been unthinkable when they risked all and tossed in their lot with the Conservative outsider.
"We began to see over the course of the months just somewhat of a change in him," said Mike Coates, the chair of O'Leary's campaign. Campaign manager Chris Rougier and strategist Andrew Boddington were also at the meeting
"Last Thursday we said, 'Is your heart in this? Are you having second thoughts?'"
Coates told CBC News that he still believed O'Leary could win the leadership race and the next election. But he wasn't the candidate. O'Leary had doubts and those doubts were now crippling.
"It was a moment of truth," said Coates.
Private meeting
But Coates said he wasn't truly sure his candidate was out of the race until O'Leary met one on one with Maxime Bernier late Tuesday night in Toronto.
The conversation started around 11 p.m. and went on for two or three hours
That conversation ended O'Leary's candidacy.
Bernier shakes hands with O'Leary after it was announced that O'Leary had quit the leadership race and thrown his support behind Bernier. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
There were no "serious" discussions with any other campaign, Coates insisted. The only two options they seriously considered were dropping out without an endorsement or endorsing Bernier, whom the campaign also saw as something of an outsider or a disrupter within the party.
Still, Coates said, he wishes O'Leary had hung in.
"Of course, we tried to convince him because we were in this to win. All I can say is he came to a different view, and he's the guy with his name on the ballot, and he's a pretty good little strategist himself. For him it's always been about beating Trudeau, and this is the way he felt he could do that the best."
Stomach for the job?
But the pugnacious reality TV personality had other reasons for abandoning the race.
A senior member of O'Leary's team said the businessman took a hard look at what would be needed to rebuild the Conservative Party and decided he and his family didn't have the stomach for it.
That effort would have meant weekends away from his family and time away from the posh boardrooms and bustling television network studios in the United States. Rather than spending time in San Francisco and South Beach, he would be compelled to shake hands in Summerside, Sarnia and Saskatoon while meeting individual Conservatives in legion halls and church basements.
That dimmed his ardour for the job.
Another source said there were concerns about the number of new members the Conservatives had signed up. The path to victory O'Leary's team had envisioned involved roughly 200,000 Conservative Party members. When the party announced that thanks to the leadership race it now had nearly 260,000 members, the O'Leary campaign wasn't certain where the additional support came from and how it would affect their chances.
What's next?
O'Leary's team isn't counting on all its supporters rallying behind Bernier, but hopes that if a sizable chunk — perhaps a third — make the switch, Bernier could pull off a first ballot win, said a member of O'Leary's team.
As for O'Leary himself, he's publicly pledged to campaign with Bernier.
Coates believes the businessman's social media and fundraising savvy could also be used to help grow the Conservative Party.
But will O'Leary stick around?
"I hope so," said Coates.
A late-night meeting sealed the decision to quit
By Catherine Cullen, CBC News Posted: Apr 26, 2017 9:26 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 26, 2017 9:26 PM ET
Celebrity investor and reality TV star Kevin O'Leary is quitting the federal Conservative leadership race and throwing his support behind Quebec rival Maxime Bernier. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)
Three key members of Kevin O'Leary's leadership team sat down with him last Thursday on a patio near his campaign office and cracked open a beer. They had a pointed question to pose that would have been unthinkable when they risked all and tossed in their lot with the Conservative outsider.
"We began to see over the course of the months just somewhat of a change in him," said Mike Coates, the chair of O'Leary's campaign. Campaign manager Chris Rougier and strategist Andrew Boddington were also at the meeting
"Last Thursday we said, 'Is your heart in this? Are you having second thoughts?'"
Coates told CBC News that he still believed O'Leary could win the leadership race and the next election. But he wasn't the candidate. O'Leary had doubts and those doubts were now crippling.
"It was a moment of truth," said Coates.
Private meeting
But Coates said he wasn't truly sure his candidate was out of the race until O'Leary met one on one with Maxime Bernier late Tuesday night in Toronto.
The conversation started around 11 p.m. and went on for two or three hours
That conversation ended O'Leary's candidacy.
Bernier shakes hands with O'Leary after it was announced that O'Leary had quit the leadership race and thrown his support behind Bernier. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
There were no "serious" discussions with any other campaign, Coates insisted. The only two options they seriously considered were dropping out without an endorsement or endorsing Bernier, whom the campaign also saw as something of an outsider or a disrupter within the party.
Still, Coates said, he wishes O'Leary had hung in.
"Of course, we tried to convince him because we were in this to win. All I can say is he came to a different view, and he's the guy with his name on the ballot, and he's a pretty good little strategist himself. For him it's always been about beating Trudeau, and this is the way he felt he could do that the best."
Stomach for the job?
But the pugnacious reality TV personality had other reasons for abandoning the race.
A senior member of O'Leary's team said the businessman took a hard look at what would be needed to rebuild the Conservative Party and decided he and his family didn't have the stomach for it.
That effort would have meant weekends away from his family and time away from the posh boardrooms and bustling television network studios in the United States. Rather than spending time in San Francisco and South Beach, he would be compelled to shake hands in Summerside, Sarnia and Saskatoon while meeting individual Conservatives in legion halls and church basements.
That dimmed his ardour for the job.
Another source said there were concerns about the number of new members the Conservatives had signed up. The path to victory O'Leary's team had envisioned involved roughly 200,000 Conservative Party members. When the party announced that thanks to the leadership race it now had nearly 260,000 members, the O'Leary campaign wasn't certain where the additional support came from and how it would affect their chances.
What's next?
O'Leary's team isn't counting on all its supporters rallying behind Bernier, but hopes that if a sizable chunk — perhaps a third — make the switch, Bernier could pull off a first ballot win, said a member of O'Leary's team.
As for O'Leary himself, he's publicly pledged to campaign with Bernier.
Coates believes the businessman's social media and fundraising savvy could also be used to help grow the Conservative Party.
But will O'Leary stick around?
"I hope so," said Coates.
- 注册
- 2003-04-13
- 消息
- 238,942
- 荣誉分数
- 37,371
- 声望点数
- 1,393
The late-night deal that sealed Kevin O’Leary’s exit
Marie-Danielle Smith | April 26, 2017 10:14 PM ET
TORONTO — An early ballot mail-out, a late-night deal and an astonishing joint press conference in Toronto: these were some of the ingredients that threw the Conservative Party’s leadership race into chaos Wednesday, as Kevin O’Leary ended his campaign to succeed Stephen Harper and endorsed rival Maxime Bernier.
Though they had thrown barbs at each other throughout the race, the two were the picture of camaraderie at a Toronto hotel Wednesday, as they met the press ahead of the final debate of the campaign. It was the culmination of a weird 24 hours.
According to O’Leary’s campaign team, the businessman and reality TV star had been thinking for a good month about whether or not he should stay in the race.
“For a little while we’ve noticed he’s been disengaged from the things that a lot of candidates normally think about, which is (getting) out and getting votes. He’s been focused a lot on his winnability,” said O’Leary senior advisor Mike Coates, global vice-chairman of PR firm Hill and Knowlton Strategies.
“This discussion just recently came to a head just before the weekend and it was pretty clear to us that he was worried he could win the leadership but not win the election. So that’s what he was wrestling with.”
Then on Tuesday, O’Leary learned that the party had already mailed out its leadership ballots. Party organizers had initially said they would be doing so April 28, the same day the list of party members eligible to vote in the leadership would be released to the campaigns. However, the party finished processing the memberships sooner than expected — and announced a higher number of eligible voters than expected, at more than 259,000. According to the O’Leary’s campaign’s statement Wednesday, they had sold just 35,335 of those memberships.
Cory Hann, a spokesman for the party, confirmed to the Post that ballots had been mailed out earlier than expected, and that by Tuesday they had begun to land in members’ mailboxes.
Relations between the O’Leary and Bernier camps had cooled since last June, when Bernier hosted O’Leary at a cottage for a couple of days of policy talk when O’Leary was still mulling a bid, but they remained in touch.
As O’Leary’s worries peaked over the weekend, regular communications between the O’Leary and Bernier campaigns turned to the possibility of O’Leary’s dropping out and backing Bernier. According to sources with both campaigns, those discussions led to a phone call between the candidates on Monday night. On Tuesday, O’Leary and Bernier met at a private location in Toronto around 11 p.m. and started talking. Two hours later, they’d struck a deal.
On Wednesday morning O’Leary’s campaign was functioning as usual, with a fundraising pitch going out just hours before he would announce his decision to leave the race — an announcement preempted by a Bernier campaign source leaking the news to the media early that afternoon. O’Leary released a lengthy written statement confirming the news not long after.
Coates and others on the campaign team believed O’Leary, who has consistently polled among the races frontrunners, had a real chance to win the Conservative leadership. “I got into this to win, not to be a kingmaker,” Coates said pointedly, speaking to the Post Wednesday before attending a campaign “wake” instead of that night’s debate. Coates confirmed any outstanding money raised by the campaign after expenses are paid will be put into party coffers.
Rumours swirled that other candidates might also consider leaving the race in O’Leary’s wake. One source close to the race said they’d be “surprised” if it didn’t prompt more deals, suggesting that to beat Bernier now, two or more of the remaining 12 campaigns would have to join forces to be “competitive.”
The National Post reached all of the leadership campaigns except for Deepak Obhrai’s, who didn’t immediately respond. All enthusiastically said their candidates would stay in the race. And though sources with other leadership campaigns said Wednesday they were blindsided by the O’Leary news, they quickly fired off fundraising emails proclaiming the race to be newly wide open.
At the beginning of Wednesday night’s debate, the moderator’s announcement of O’Leary’s departure from the race was greeted with loud applause by the crowd in the partially full theatre. The debate proceeded from there, far from the first of the campaign for which O’Leary had been absent.
At his joint press conference with Bernier hours before, O’Leary had told reporters it would have been “selfish” for him to continue his campaign if he doubted he’d be able to get a mandate in the general election, in part due, he said, to the problems his lack of French would cause in trying to win seats in Quebec, which he called “the Florida of Canada,” an apparent reference to its importance in elections.
For a little while we’ve noticed he’s been disengaged from the things that a lot of candidates normally think about
O’Leary said Wednesday he had initially planned to reveal his decision next week, but that it would have been “disingenuous” even to be contemplating a “merger” with the Bernier campaign and not make it known publicly if people were already receiving their ballots and beginning to vote. When it was pointed out O’Leary would miss Wednesday’s bilingual debate, he shrugged off the insinuation he’d be happier not to have to answer questions in French.
Some reporters questioned whether O’Leary might have ultimately just decided he was more interested in focusing on his position as an American media personality.
Though he denied this had any influence on his decision, O’Leary noted he was recently on TV with Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, “defending” Canada in what some fear is a looming trade war with the United States.
“I’m in a unique situation,” O’Leary said. “I am probably the most known Canadian that’s on American television. And I’m going to talk about what we mean to Americans.”
Marie-Danielle Smith | April 26, 2017 10:14 PM ET
TORONTO — An early ballot mail-out, a late-night deal and an astonishing joint press conference in Toronto: these were some of the ingredients that threw the Conservative Party’s leadership race into chaos Wednesday, as Kevin O’Leary ended his campaign to succeed Stephen Harper and endorsed rival Maxime Bernier.
Though they had thrown barbs at each other throughout the race, the two were the picture of camaraderie at a Toronto hotel Wednesday, as they met the press ahead of the final debate of the campaign. It was the culmination of a weird 24 hours.
According to O’Leary’s campaign team, the businessman and reality TV star had been thinking for a good month about whether or not he should stay in the race.
“For a little while we’ve noticed he’s been disengaged from the things that a lot of candidates normally think about, which is (getting) out and getting votes. He’s been focused a lot on his winnability,” said O’Leary senior advisor Mike Coates, global vice-chairman of PR firm Hill and Knowlton Strategies.
“This discussion just recently came to a head just before the weekend and it was pretty clear to us that he was worried he could win the leadership but not win the election. So that’s what he was wrestling with.”
Then on Tuesday, O’Leary learned that the party had already mailed out its leadership ballots. Party organizers had initially said they would be doing so April 28, the same day the list of party members eligible to vote in the leadership would be released to the campaigns. However, the party finished processing the memberships sooner than expected — and announced a higher number of eligible voters than expected, at more than 259,000. According to the O’Leary’s campaign’s statement Wednesday, they had sold just 35,335 of those memberships.
Cory Hann, a spokesman for the party, confirmed to the Post that ballots had been mailed out earlier than expected, and that by Tuesday they had begun to land in members’ mailboxes.
Relations between the O’Leary and Bernier camps had cooled since last June, when Bernier hosted O’Leary at a cottage for a couple of days of policy talk when O’Leary was still mulling a bid, but they remained in touch.
As O’Leary’s worries peaked over the weekend, regular communications between the O’Leary and Bernier campaigns turned to the possibility of O’Leary’s dropping out and backing Bernier. According to sources with both campaigns, those discussions led to a phone call between the candidates on Monday night. On Tuesday, O’Leary and Bernier met at a private location in Toronto around 11 p.m. and started talking. Two hours later, they’d struck a deal.
On Wednesday morning O’Leary’s campaign was functioning as usual, with a fundraising pitch going out just hours before he would announce his decision to leave the race — an announcement preempted by a Bernier campaign source leaking the news to the media early that afternoon. O’Leary released a lengthy written statement confirming the news not long after.
Coates and others on the campaign team believed O’Leary, who has consistently polled among the races frontrunners, had a real chance to win the Conservative leadership. “I got into this to win, not to be a kingmaker,” Coates said pointedly, speaking to the Post Wednesday before attending a campaign “wake” instead of that night’s debate. Coates confirmed any outstanding money raised by the campaign after expenses are paid will be put into party coffers.
Rumours swirled that other candidates might also consider leaving the race in O’Leary’s wake. One source close to the race said they’d be “surprised” if it didn’t prompt more deals, suggesting that to beat Bernier now, two or more of the remaining 12 campaigns would have to join forces to be “competitive.”
The National Post reached all of the leadership campaigns except for Deepak Obhrai’s, who didn’t immediately respond. All enthusiastically said their candidates would stay in the race. And though sources with other leadership campaigns said Wednesday they were blindsided by the O’Leary news, they quickly fired off fundraising emails proclaiming the race to be newly wide open.
At the beginning of Wednesday night’s debate, the moderator’s announcement of O’Leary’s departure from the race was greeted with loud applause by the crowd in the partially full theatre. The debate proceeded from there, far from the first of the campaign for which O’Leary had been absent.
At his joint press conference with Bernier hours before, O’Leary had told reporters it would have been “selfish” for him to continue his campaign if he doubted he’d be able to get a mandate in the general election, in part due, he said, to the problems his lack of French would cause in trying to win seats in Quebec, which he called “the Florida of Canada,” an apparent reference to its importance in elections.
For a little while we’ve noticed he’s been disengaged from the things that a lot of candidates normally think about
O’Leary said Wednesday he had initially planned to reveal his decision next week, but that it would have been “disingenuous” even to be contemplating a “merger” with the Bernier campaign and not make it known publicly if people were already receiving their ballots and beginning to vote. When it was pointed out O’Leary would miss Wednesday’s bilingual debate, he shrugged off the insinuation he’d be happier not to have to answer questions in French.
Some reporters questioned whether O’Leary might have ultimately just decided he was more interested in focusing on his position as an American media personality.
Though he denied this had any influence on his decision, O’Leary noted he was recently on TV with Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, “defending” Canada in what some fear is a looming trade war with the United States.
“I’m in a unique situation,” O’Leary said. “I am probably the most known Canadian that’s on American television. And I’m going to talk about what we mean to Americans.”
- 注册
- 2003-04-13
- 消息
- 238,942
- 荣誉分数
- 37,371
- 声望点数
- 1,393
Could any of these Conservative candidates defeat Trudeau?
Many CBC commenters are doubtful the party will be able to challenge Trudeau's Liberals in 2019
CBC News Posted: Apr 30, 2017 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 30, 2017 5:00 AM ET
Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong speaks during the Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate in Toronto on Wednesday April 26, 2017. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
Hours before the final debate of the Conservative leadership race, Kevin O'Leary dropped out of the race and endorsed Maxime Bernier. Reactions to the last-minute move were mixed, but there was one thing CBC commenters largely agreed upon: this slew of candidates is really rather unimpressive.
Unfit for government
O'Leary's limited familiarity with the goings on in Canada and his abysmally limited understanding of the Canadian Constitution, like the powers and authorities of the provinces, made him totally unsuited for any government position, let alone as leader of a federal political party. I'm happy with his endorsement of Bernier.
- Robin Rousham
Quit catering to Quebec
Stephen Harper won a small majority without Quebec and it is time we quit catering to that province.This is one of the reasons we need another party to vote for — to stop the insanity of Canada's concerns getting shaped by Quebec. My Canada includes all the provinces and territories.
- Ed Betterley
It's not Quebec, it's you
I cannot understand O'Leary's explanation. The truth more likely has to do with the fact that his numbers on whether he could win the party leadership aren't adding up. Without the leadership, he cannot stomach being on the sidelines under another leader.
He will not run for Parliament in the next election, and endorsing Bernier does not mean his supporters will flock over to Maxime or even cast a ballot. Harper proved you can form government without significant Quebec support.
- B. Jason MacPherson
Good for O'Leary
O'Leary finally gained my respect. I expect he really thought about how his ways of thinking about government were a little bit too much like those of Donald Trump.
As for the remaining candidates, the one I like the most is Michael Chong. I'm not thinking of voting Conservative, but I would hope that they have a credible leader, one who I felt I could trust more than Justin Trudeau.
- Hank Burnaby
Can't be serious
That anyone would have considered Kevin O'Leary a serious contender for more than a blink of an eye is mind-boggling. A blow in from the U.S., a TV personality with an over-inflated ego who thought he was a shoe-in and didn't need to stump for votes. It is tough to drag a political party of such low repute as the Conservatives to an even deeper level of shame but, by God, Kevin did it.
- Pauline Mott
Chong can fix democracy
From my point of view, what makes Michael Chong unique is his deep appreciation for the power that riding associations must have in all parties if we are to have an assuredly functioning democracy. He alone, among all potential or present party leaders, knows what it takes to fix our democracy.
Trudeau's recent Liberal Party reforms further diminish the power of riding associations, which are now little more than fan clubs for the leaders. Fix democracy in Canada and support Chong.
- Neil Maclean
No buzz, just relief
Stephen Harper stepped down as party leader in the fall of 2015, and regardless of when the leadership race formally began, speculation about who will be the next Conservative leader has been going on since then. New leaders are supposed to generate a bit of excitement. This one will probably just bring relief that it's finally over.
- Don Luft
Unsuited
Cookie-cutter Conservatives. I'd vote for the first one in a Don Cherry-designed creation.
- Thomas G. MacMillan
Chong should start a party
Dear Mr. Chong, after the Reform Party elects one of their own, please organize with other conservatives who share your views and either resurrect the Progressive Conservative Party or start a new party that reflects Canadian conservative principles. It would be the greatest service you could provide to your country.
- Gerard S. Chive
Sure, why not?
The candidates are just doing what the party allows them to do. Join the race after the debates have started? Sure, why not?
Don't want to participate in the debates? Sure, why not? That's how you win over CPC voters, by not participating. Don't want to earn a seat in the House of Commons? Sure, why not? The CPC doesn't care about your ability to represent any constituents.
- David Allan
No prime minister here
These people will all be to old by the time Mr. Trudeau declares retirement.
- David Conway
Many CBC commenters are doubtful the party will be able to challenge Trudeau's Liberals in 2019
CBC News Posted: Apr 30, 2017 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 30, 2017 5:00 AM ET
Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong speaks during the Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate in Toronto on Wednesday April 26, 2017. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
Hours before the final debate of the Conservative leadership race, Kevin O'Leary dropped out of the race and endorsed Maxime Bernier. Reactions to the last-minute move were mixed, but there was one thing CBC commenters largely agreed upon: this slew of candidates is really rather unimpressive.
Unfit for government
O'Leary's limited familiarity with the goings on in Canada and his abysmally limited understanding of the Canadian Constitution, like the powers and authorities of the provinces, made him totally unsuited for any government position, let alone as leader of a federal political party. I'm happy with his endorsement of Bernier.
- Robin Rousham
Quit catering to Quebec
Stephen Harper won a small majority without Quebec and it is time we quit catering to that province.This is one of the reasons we need another party to vote for — to stop the insanity of Canada's concerns getting shaped by Quebec. My Canada includes all the provinces and territories.
- Ed Betterley
It's not Quebec, it's you
I cannot understand O'Leary's explanation. The truth more likely has to do with the fact that his numbers on whether he could win the party leadership aren't adding up. Without the leadership, he cannot stomach being on the sidelines under another leader.
He will not run for Parliament in the next election, and endorsing Bernier does not mean his supporters will flock over to Maxime or even cast a ballot. Harper proved you can form government without significant Quebec support.
- B. Jason MacPherson
Good for O'Leary
O'Leary finally gained my respect. I expect he really thought about how his ways of thinking about government were a little bit too much like those of Donald Trump.
As for the remaining candidates, the one I like the most is Michael Chong. I'm not thinking of voting Conservative, but I would hope that they have a credible leader, one who I felt I could trust more than Justin Trudeau.
- Hank Burnaby
Can't be serious
That anyone would have considered Kevin O'Leary a serious contender for more than a blink of an eye is mind-boggling. A blow in from the U.S., a TV personality with an over-inflated ego who thought he was a shoe-in and didn't need to stump for votes. It is tough to drag a political party of such low repute as the Conservatives to an even deeper level of shame but, by God, Kevin did it.
- Pauline Mott
Chong can fix democracy
From my point of view, what makes Michael Chong unique is his deep appreciation for the power that riding associations must have in all parties if we are to have an assuredly functioning democracy. He alone, among all potential or present party leaders, knows what it takes to fix our democracy.
Trudeau's recent Liberal Party reforms further diminish the power of riding associations, which are now little more than fan clubs for the leaders. Fix democracy in Canada and support Chong.
- Neil Maclean
No buzz, just relief
Stephen Harper stepped down as party leader in the fall of 2015, and regardless of when the leadership race formally began, speculation about who will be the next Conservative leader has been going on since then. New leaders are supposed to generate a bit of excitement. This one will probably just bring relief that it's finally over.
- Don Luft
Unsuited
Cookie-cutter Conservatives. I'd vote for the first one in a Don Cherry-designed creation.
- Thomas G. MacMillan
Chong should start a party
Dear Mr. Chong, after the Reform Party elects one of their own, please organize with other conservatives who share your views and either resurrect the Progressive Conservative Party or start a new party that reflects Canadian conservative principles. It would be the greatest service you could provide to your country.
- Gerard S. Chive
Sure, why not?
The candidates are just doing what the party allows them to do. Join the race after the debates have started? Sure, why not?
Don't want to participate in the debates? Sure, why not? That's how you win over CPC voters, by not participating. Don't want to earn a seat in the House of Commons? Sure, why not? The CPC doesn't care about your ability to represent any constituents.
- David Allan
No prime minister here
These people will all be to old by the time Mr. Trudeau declares retirement.
- David Conway
He is in the Brown team, at the provincial level.
