page_title: Peter MacKay
section_title: 2020 Conservative leadership race
hierarchical_section_title: Peter MacKay / Out of Parliament / 2015–present / 2020 Conservative leadership race
caption_attribution_description: English: Little Harbour knows how to throw a big party! Thanks to the 400+ Conservatives who packed the hall in support of George Canyon last night. And thanks Peter MacKay for your support. Three more days! Français&#160;: Les gens de Little Harbour savent comment organiser une grande fête! Merci aux plus de 400 conservateurs qui ont rempli la salle pour appuyer George Canyon hier soir. Et merci Peter MacKay pour ton soutien. Plus que trois jours!
context_page_description: Peter Gordon MacKay PC QC is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of National Defence, and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Canada under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Peter MacKay was the final leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and he agreed to merge the party with Stephen Harper's Canadian Alliance in 2003, forming the Conservative Party of Canada.
  Peter MacKay represented the riding of Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough from 1997 to 2004, and the riding of Central Nova from 2004 until 2015, when he decided not to run in that year's federal election. With the defeat of the Conservatives in the 2015 federal election, Peter MacKay was considered a potential candidate to succeed Stephen Harper as permanent leader of the party.
  On January 15, Peter MacKay announced his candidacy for the 2020 Conservative leadership race. Peter MacKay was defeated by former veterans affairs minister Erin O’Toole on the third ballot of the leadership vote.
context_section_description: On October 10, 2019, The Globe and Mail reported that MacKay supporters were preparing to launch a leadership bid should Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer fail to secure a government in the 2019 federal election. MacKay responded to questions by saying that he was "not [aware]" of Conservatives backers organizing a campaign, and that he was "doing everything I can to help Andrew and support him and his team. I’m not entertaining that at all.”
  On December 12, 2019, Scheer announced he was resigning as Conservative party leader, but would stay on until a new leader was chosen.
  On January 15, 2020, MacKay announced his intention to run for the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership race. After weeks of speculation, MacKay tweeted from his Twitter account: "I'm in. Stay tuned." He officially launched his campaign on January 25, 2020 at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. On January 26, 2020, a Washington Post columnist posted a comparison of Peter MacKay's campaign logo and that of personal finance blog Maple Money, which started comparisons to the previous Canadian Energy Centre trademark issues.
  MacKay was defeated by Erin O’Toole on the third ballot of the leadership vote.
caption: MacKay (centre-left foreground) with Andrew Scheer during the 2019 Canadian federal election campaign
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