Michael Chong’s year-long campaign to become the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada came to an end on Saturday.
The Wellington-Halton Hills MP was eliminated in the 11th round of voting, ultimately finishing fifth out of 13 candidates and four places behind winner Andrew Scheer of Saskatchewan.
Chong, who watched live with his wife Carrie as the election results were announced at the May 27 leadership convention in Toronto, said he was pleased with his campaign.
“We’re really happy with our results,” Chong told the Advertiser, adding his goal was to finish in the top six.
“We worked hard. We ran a good campaign that put forward bold, ambitious ideas to take the Conservative Party and Canada forward.
“And so we’re very happy with the campaign and our results.”
The overall outcome was somewhat of a surprise to many political pundits, most of whom cited Quebec’s Maxime Bernier as the frontrunner leading up to the election.
A Nanos research survey released just days prior to the election had Scheer ranked fourth, behind Bernier, Lisa Raitt and Chong.
On Saturday Bernier held a narrow lead over Scheer for almost the entire evening.
In fact, Scheer did not claim victory over Bernier until the 13th and final round of the mail-in ranked ballot election, winning by the narrowest of margins: 50.95 to 49.05%.
“I did not expect it to go to (13) rounds,” said Chong. “I thought certainly it would got to three, four, maybe five rounds.”
The candidates who finished third through seventh are:
– Erin O’Toole (who claimed 21.3% of votes in the 12th round);
– Brad Trost (14.3% in the 11th round);
– Chong (9.1% in the 10th round);
– Kellie Leitch (8% in the 9th round); and
– Pierre Lemieux (7.7% in the 8th round).
Finishing eighth to 13 respectively were: Raitt, Steven Blaney, Chris Alexander, Kevin O’Leary (who withdrew from the contest on April 26), Rick Peterson, Andrew Saxton and Deepak Obhrai.
Provincial, local results
Chong’s support was over 10% in all but four of the 13 provinces and territories (10th round results), ranging from 2.4% in Saskatchewan to 12.8% in Yukon and Ontario.
Of course, Chong fared very well in his own riding, garnering 58% support on the first ballot in Wellington-Halton Hills. He received 12% of first ballot votes in Perth-Wellington, the county’s northern federal riding.
“I was thrilled to get 58% of the support here in the riding on the first ballot,” Chong said. “I think that was truly humbling.”
On the final ballot (13th round), Wellington-Halton Hills voters supported Scheer to the tune of 54.7%, while Conservative Party members in Perth-Wellington voted resoundingly in favour of Scheer, with 72.7% in the final round.
Chong said he was proud to represent Wellington County on the campaign trail.
“For me it wasn’t just about running for the leadership, it was also about coming from a certain part of Canada that I’m very proud of – southwestern Ontario, more particularly Wellington County – and being able to participate in a leadership race and give a perspective of this region of the country,” he said.
He later added, “I truly believe that the rest of the country knows Wellington County much more now than they did before this leadership race started a year ago.”
Carbon pricing
At the forefront of Chong’s campaign was a promise to “return power back to elected MPs and to grassroots party members” as well as familiar conservative touchstones such as balanced budgets and lower income taxes.
But he also championed a cause not typically associated with the Conservative Party: protecting the environment. Chong proposed a carbon tax that he said would be revenue neutral, finance deep income-tax cuts and stimulate the economy.
That strategy may have played very well in a federal election, especially considering the Liberal party has announced a plan requiring all provinces and territories to have some form of carbon pricing by 2018.
However, Chong’s carbon tax plan drew strong criticism from fellow leadership candidates and likely cost him some votes.
“I think it attracted a lot of support and it also generated a lot of debate,” Chong said of his carbon pricing plan. “We put forward bold and ambitious ideas. Clearly the party isn’t ready to adopt those ideas and I respect that.
“But we also believe that we laid out a vision for the party of the future and sometimes these ideas take some time for people to get to know and to support.”
Chong added he believes the Conservatives must have “a credible policy” on emissions for the 2019 election.
“There’s a variety of different ways in which we can reduce our emissions and I look forward to working with our new leader, with the caucus and with the party to formulate that policy,” he said.
Chong was not opposed to Andrew Scheer’s victory speech promise to scrap the Liberals’ carbon tax plan if elected.
“I don’t support the Liberal party’s approach to reducing our emissions,” Chong said. “I support … a revenue neutral carbon tax where every last penny of those revenues is used to … cut income taxes.
“The Liberals have not proposed any reductions on income taxes tied to the price of carbon and that’s the reason why I strongly disagree with [their] approach.”
Supply management
In hindsight, Bernier’s campaign promise to phase out the supply management system may have ultimately cost him the election.
Advocates of the system, which sets prices and quotas for eggs, milk and poultry, say it fairly compensates farmers for production costs. Opponents counter it inflates prices and undermines free-market competition.
During the leadership campaign Bernier called the system a “government cartel” that is “inefficient and fundamentally unfair to Canadian families.”
Quebec has the highest number of farmers in Canada working under the supply management system, with a large concentration in Bernier’s riding of Beauce.
That likely explains the results in Beauce (Bernier lost to Scheer by a margin of 51.1 to 48.9% [13th round results]) and perhaps the overall results as well.
“I don’t know if that was the only factor but that certainly was one of the factors,” said Chong, a longtime advocate for supply management.
“I support our dairy and chicken farmers. I’ve always supported them and I will continue to do so.”
Going forward
While he did not comment on his plans for the 2019 election, Chong said he will continue to serve constituents in Wellington-Halton Hills.
“I’m back to work … in Ottawa representing the good people of Wellington County,” he said.
He added, “Over the last 12 months I’ve met so many wonderful people in Wellington County and across the county and it truly has been [a] privilege … And it’s something that I will always cherish.”
Chong thanked his wife Carrie and their three sons for their support over the campaign and also thanked campaign volunteers and supporters.
“And finally, I want to thank the people of Wellington County for supporting me through this leadership race – but also over the last 13 years,” Chong said.
“It’s been the privilege of my life to represent them on the floor of the House of Commons.”
