Recent Federal Conventions
Four of the major parties have held conventions recently to choose new leaders:
The new Conservative Party of Canada chose former Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper as its new leader on March 20, 2004. The other candidates were former Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement and former Magna International CEO Belinda Stronach.
The Liberals, on December 2, 2006 chose Stéphane Dion as their leader at the 2006 Liberal leadership convention. His successor, Michael Ignatieff, was officially selected at the 2009 leadership convention however as he had effectively become leader as a result of the 2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute the 2009 leadership convention was uncontested and served the function of ratifying Ignatieff's leadership. The 2009 Liberal leadership convention was the last federal convention in which the leader was chosen by delegates. The Liberal Party has adopted a constitutional amendment requiring future leadership elections to be conducted according to a weighted One Member One Vote system in which all party members could cast ballots but in which they would be counted so that each riding had equal weight.
Following the resignation of Gilles Duceppe, the Bloc Québécois, on December 11, 2011 chose former MP Daniel Paillé as their leader at the 2011 Bloc Québécois leadership convention. The other candidates were sitting MPs Jean-François Fortin and Maria Mourani.
Following the death of Jack Layton in August 2011, the New Democratic Party chose Thomas Mulcair as leader on March 24, 2012, in Toronto, winning with 57.2% of the vote on the fourth and final ballot. At the convention, Mulcair beat fellow candidates Brian Topp, Nathan Cullen, Peggy Nash, Paul Dewar, Martin Singh, and Niki Ashton.
Read more about this topic: Leadership Convention
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