Leslyn Lewis

Leslyn Lewis is a Canadian lawyer and former political candidate who placed third in the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election.[1][2] She was the first visible minority woman to run for the federal Conservative Party leadership.[lower-alpha 1][3] After the leadership election, she sought and was acclaimed the Conservative nomination in Haldimand—Norfolk.

Leslyn Lewis
Lewis in 2019
Born (1970-12-02) December 2, 1970
Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica
NationalityCanadian
EducationTrinity College, Toronto (BA)
York University (MA)
Osgoode Hall Law School (JD, PhD)
OccupationLawyer
Political partyConservative Party of Canada
Websitewww.leslynlewis.ca

Early life and education

Raised in East York, Ontario, she emigrated to Canada at age 5 from Jamaica.[4]

Lewis graduated magna cum laude from the University of Toronto (Trinity College), and holds a Master of Environmental Studies from York University with a concentration in Business and Environment from the Schulich School of Business, and a Juris Doctor and PhD in international law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.[3][5]

Career

Lewis has practised law for 20 years and is the managing partner of Lewis Law, specializing in commercial litigation and international trade practice, with a focus on energy policy,[3] and has hosted her own television show called Law Matters.[6]

Lewis ran in the 2015 federal election campaign as the Conservative Party candidate for the riding of Scarborough-Rouge Park, after a scandal disrupted the campaign of the previous candidate.[7]

In 2018 she was appointed under Premier Doug Ford to the board of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and was later named to the foundation's committee responsible for dispensing funds for youth programs.[8]

In 2019 she was awarded the Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence by the Black Business and Professional Association.[9]

Politics

2015 federal election

Lewis began her political career in the riding of Markham-Stouffville, where she was vice president and a primary fundraiser of the Conservative electoral district association while Paul Calandra was Member of Parliament. In 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed her as a replacement candidate to run the riding of Scarborough-Rouge Park only a few weeks before the vote after the previous Conservative candidate had been dismissed due to a scandal.[10][11] An article in the National Post referred to Lewis as a “high-quality substitute".[12][13][6] She placed second to Liberal candidate Gary Anandasangaree, receiving more than 13,000 votes.[14][15]

Conservative Party leadership candidate
Main article: 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election

In February 2020, Lewis was confirmed as an official leadership contestant for the Conservative Party of Canada,[1] following the resignation of Andrew Scheer as leader in December 2019. Had she been successful, she would have been the first visible minority woman to lead any of the three major federal Canadian parties.[3]

Her platform was socially conservative.[16] While she considers conversion therapy "an atrocious thing", she raised concerns about the Canadian government's proposed ban, citing an unclear definition that risks penalizing conversations with parents or religious leaders.[17] She stated that while she personally defines marriage as between a man and a woman, she would not roll back existing legislation allowing equal marriage in Canada.[18] She has stated that she would like to make marijuana access more restrictive and that she thinks reactions to climate change are overblown "in some respects".[19] She has publicly described herself as "pro-life, no hidden agenda" and as leader would have the Conservative Party move to ban sex-selective abortion and coerced abortion, increase government funding for crisis pregnancy centres (which counsel women against abortion), and she would end foreign aid funding for abortion.[20] Her candidacy has been endorsed by pro-life advocacy groups including the Campaign Life Coalition. [21]

She opposed carbon taxes and supports promoting green technology as an alternative policy.[21]

Despite Lewis leading the second ballot on the popular vote, she was eliminated after placing third in points.[22]

Future candidacy

On August 25, 2020, Lewis announced that she would be running for a seat in the House of Commons in an undisclosed riding in the next federal election.[23] On September 15, 2020, she formally announced that she would be seeking the Conservative nomination in Haldimand—Norfolk.[24][25] She was acclaimed as the Conservative candidate in the riding the next month.[26]

Recognition

In May 2019 she was awarded a Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence by the Black Business and Professional Association.[27][28]

Electoral record
2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership results by ballot[29]
Candidate 1st ballot 2nd ballot 3rd ballot
Votes cast % Points allocated % Votes cast % Points allocated % Votes cast % Points allocated %
Erin O'Toole 51,258 29.39% 10,681.40 31.60% 56,907 33.20% 11,903.69 35.22% 90,635 58.86% 19,271.74 57.02%
Peter MacKay 52,851 30.30% 11,328.55 33.52% 54,165 31.60% 11,756.01 34.78% 63,356 41.14% 14,528.26 42.98%
Leslyn Lewis 43,017 24.67% 6,925.38 20.49% 60,316 35.20% 10,140.30 30.00% Eliminated
Derek Sloan 27,278 15.64% 4,864.67 14.39% Eliminated
Total 174,404 100% 33,800 100% 171,388 100% 33,800 100% 153,991 100% 33,800 100%
2015 Canadian federal election: Scarborough—Rouge Park
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalGary Anandasangaree29,91360.24+25.48$144,189.04
ConservativeLeslyn Lewis13,58727.36-4.23$59,291.73
New DemocraticKM Shanthikumar5,14510.36-20.63$58,736.40
GreenCalvin Winter1,0102.03-0.36$1,457.51
Total valid votes/Expense limit 49,655100.0–$204,974.26
Total rejected ballots 2350.47New
Turnout 49,89069.98New
Eligible voters 71,291
Source: Elections Canada[30][31]

Notes
  1. She is the third visible minority woman to run for the leadership of any major national Canadian party, after Rosemary Brown (NDP in 1975) and Hedy Fry (Liberal in 2006).

References
  1. Canada, P. M. N. (February 12, 2020). "Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis becomes official candidate for Conservative leader | National Post".
  2. "RCV Short Report" (PDF). August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  3. Werner, Kevin (February 1, 2020). "Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis could make Canadian political history in Conservative leadership race". HamiltonNews.com.
  4. "Leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis on representing a side of the Conservatives you 'may not have seen before'". www.thechronicleherald.ca. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
  5. "WARMINGTON: Toronto lawyer sets sights on Conservative leadership | Toronto Sun". January 23, 2020.
  6. "Conservatives name new candidate for Scarborough-Rouge River riding". Toronto.com. 2015-09-11. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  7. Hopper, Tristan (25 September 2015). "Solving an "electoral emergency": How parties find replacements for candidates who self-destruct"". Canadian Press. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  8. "Board of Directors". Ontario Trillium Foundation. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020.
  9. "Honorees 2019". Harry Jerome Awards.
  10. "Jerry Bance, Conservative caught peeing in mug, no longer candidate, party says". CBC News. September 7, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  11. "Tories drop two candidates after videos show one peeing in cup, the other making prank calls". National Post. 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  12. Hopper, Tristin (2015-09-26). "Solving an 'electoral emergency': How parties find replacements for candidates who self-destruct". National Post. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  13. DiMatteo, Enzo (2015-10-14). "You choose the best of the rest". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  14. "Voter Information Service". Elections Canada Results. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  15. "SCARBOROUGH-ROUGE PARK: Liberal Anandasangaree elected new MP elected for new riding". Toronto.com. October 20, 2015.
  16. Platt, Brian (March 10, 2020). "Leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis on representing a side of the Conservatives you 'may not have seen before'". The Chronicle Herald. Postmedia Network. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  17. Smith, Marie-Danielle (July 13, 2020). "I don't hide who I am: Leslyn Lewis's pitch to conservative voters". Macleans. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  18. Turnbull, Sarah (May 22, 2020). "Three months out from Tory leadership vote, Lewis positions herself as unity candidate". CTV. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  19. Platt, Brian (10 March 2020). "Leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis on representing a side of the Conservatives you 'may not have seen before'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  20. Turnbull, Sarah (May 22, 2020). "Three months out from Tory leadership vote, Lewis positions herself as unity candidate". CTV News. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  21. Cullen, Catherine (March 10, 2020). "Conservative leadership contender Leslyn Lewis sells herself to social conservatives, takes shots at MacKay". CBC News. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  22. Grenier, Éric (24 August 2020). "Erin O'Toole courted the right of the Conservative Party and won". CBC News. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  23. Lewis, Leslyn (August 25, 2020). "I'm running!". Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  24. "Leslyn Lewis to seek Conservative nomination in Ontario riding of Haldimand-Norfolk". September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  25. Lewis, Leslyn (September 15, 2020). "Leslyn Lewis Announces Intention to Run for Conservative Nomination in Haldimand-Norfolk". Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  26. Hristova, Booby (October 16, 2020). "Leslyn Lewis acclaimed in Haldimand-Norfolk after local entrepreneur denied candidacy". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  27. "Harry Jerome Awards, 2019 Honourees". The Black Business and Professional Association. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  28. Armstrong, Neil (February 27, 2019). "BBPA Reveals the Names of the 2019 Harry Jerome Award Recipients". Anglescovered.blogspot.com. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  29. "RCV Short Report" (PDF). August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  30. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Scarborough—Rouge Park, 30 September 2015
  31. Elections Canada – Final Candidates Election Expenses Limits
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