page_title: 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election / Timeline
caption_attribution_description: English: Bernier and Scheer walking down the stairs at Parliament Hill
context_page_description: The 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was held on May 27, 2017. Party members chose Andrew Scheer as leader, replacing Stephen Harper, who led the Conservative Party of Canada as its leader from 2004 following the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties. Harper led the party through five federal elections: the party increased its seat count in the House of Commons in 2004, formed two minority governments in 2006, and 2008, and then a majority government in 2011. Following the defeat of the party in the 2015 federal election on October 19, Harper tendered his resignation as party leader. In a statement, Conservative Party President John Walsh said he had spoken to Harper, "and he has instructed me to reach out to the newly elected parliamentary caucus to appoint an interim Leader and to implement the leadership selection process."
  259,010 party members were eligible to vote in the leadership contest. 141,000 members cast a vote.
context_section_description: October 19, 2015 – Federal election results in defeat of Conservative government. As Harper spoke to supporters in Calgary, making no reference to his future, a statement was released by the party announcing Harper's resignation as party leader and his request that an interim leader be chosen to lead the party in parliament until a leadership election can be held.
  November 4, 2015 – Harper resigns as prime minister; Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau sworn in.
  November 5, 2015 – Conservative caucus held its first meeting since the 2015 federal election and chose former health minister Rona Ambrose interim leader of the party.
  December 4–5, 2015 – National Council meets, 20-member Leadership Election Organization Committee appointed, including seven members of the National Council and MP Diane Finley, all of whom have pledged to be neutral during the leadership campaign; Dan Nowlan is appointed the committee's chair.
  January 15–17, 2016 – The Leadership Election Organization Committee meets at the Albany Club in Toronto to decide on the date of the leadership vote, the deadline for candidates to be nominated, campaign spending limits, the entrance fee for candidates and the appeals process for any disputes.
  May 26–28, 2016 – Conservative Party national policy convention, held at the Vancouver Convention Centre, voted on policy resolutions and elected the party president and other officials. An attempt to change the party constitution to allow the party's interim leader, Rona Ambrose, to seek the permanent leadership is defeated.
  September 12, 2016 – Former Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, who had been leading public opinion polls as the most popular potential leader, announces that he will not be a candidate for the party's leadership.
  November 2, 2016 – Only those who have registered as candidates by this date, including having paid at least $25,000 of the candidate deposit, are permitted to participate in the first leadership debate, to be held the following week. 12 candidates meet this deadline.
  November 9, 2016 – First of five official leadership debates organized by the LEOC, held in Saskatoon.
  November 13, 2016 – Leadership debate organized by the Carleton Conservative Association, held in Greely, Ontario
  December 6, 2016 – Second official debate held in Moncton in English and French.
  December 31, 2016 – Deadline for candidates who filed their nomination papers in 2016 to have paid $50,000 compliance fee.
  January 17, 2017, 6:30 pm – Third official debate held in Quebec City in French at the Quebec Convention Centre. The themes covered will be government and taxes.
  February 4, 2017 – Leadership debate organized by the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The first debate involving well-known businessman Kevin O'Leary.
  February 24, 2017, 5pm ET (UTC-5) – Nomination period closes; deadline for candidates to pay any remaining balance of entrance fee.
  February 24, 2017 – Leadership debate organized by the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, held in Ottawa, Ontario
  February 28, 2017 – Fourth official debate, held in Edmonton at the Maclab Theatre in English and French.
  March 28, 2017, 5pm ET (UTC-4) – Members who have joined by this date are eligible to vote.
  April 26, 2017 – Presumed frontrunner Kevin O'Leary withdraws from the election and endorses Maxime Bernier; as O'Leary has withdrawn after the deadline, his name remains on the ballot. Final leadership debate is held.
  April 28, 2017 – Voting by mail-in ranked ballot begins.
  May 26, 2017, 5pm ET (UTC-5) – Deadline for mail-in ballots to be received.
  May 27, 2017 – In-person voting at Toronto Congress Centre and 14 polling stations across the country until 4 pm ET (UTC-5). Advance and in-person ballots counted; results announced.
caption: Maxime Bernier and Andrew Scheer walking down the stairs at Parliament Hill, May 30, 2017.
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