2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election
The 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was a leadership election held to elect a successor to Andrew Scheer, who in December 2019 announced his pending resignation as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. The election was conducted by postal ballot from mid-July to 21 August 2020, with the ballots processed and results announced on 23–24 August 2020. The $300,000 entrance fee made it the most expensive leadership race in the history of Canadian politics.
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| Turnout | 65.01% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 23 August 2020 |
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| Convention | Shaw Centre, Ottawa |
| Resigning leader | Andrew Scheer |
| Won by | Erin O'Toole |
| Ballots | 175,192 |
| Candidates | 4 |
| Entrance Fee | $300,000 (of which $100,000 is a refundable compliance deposit) |
Four candidates were running for the position: member of parliament and former veterans affairs minister Erin O'Toole, co-founder of the Conservative Party Peter MacKay, Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis and member of parliament Derek Sloan.
The election was originally scheduled for 27 June 2020, but on March 26, the party suspended the race due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic crisis in Canada. Party officials said they would revisit their decision on May 1. On April 29, it was announced that the race would proceed by postal ballot with the election itself being rescheduled from June to August. To be counted, ballots needed to be completed and received by 21 August 2020 at 5:00 p.m. EDT. The leadership election results were expected to be announced on 23 August, but the first round results were not announced until the early morning on 24 August, due to machine malfunctions causing significant delays. MacKay led the first ballot with 33.52 per cent by a narrow margin of around 2 per cent. O'Toole subsequently led on the second ballot and won on the third ballot, becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party.