Jean Charest's CPC leadership race campaign kicks off in Calgary

The race to see who the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada will be, and perhaps the next prime minister, is underway. Social media-savvy smooth talker Pierre Poilievre was an early favourite, but he isn’t the only horse in this race anymore. Social conservative favourite Leslyn Lewis has also declared her candidacy, and this is not her first campaign for the leadership of the party. Other familiar names like Roman Baber have also announced that they will be running, and Patrick Brown is expected to announce his entry into the contest on Sunday.

One name that people were likely not expecting to hear in this conversation was that of former Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest. While Jean Charest did serve as a Member of Parliament under the Brian Mulroney conservatives, his status as a bona fide conservative remains in the air.

Many have questions about his ties to Huawei as a consultant, where Charest worked both on advising the Chinese-owned tech giant on acquiring 5G contracts in Canada, as well as consulting on the extradition proceedings of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.

There are also no lack of questions surrounding Mr. Charest positions on the carbon tax, firearms rights, and a myriad of other hot button issues, particularly among Western Canadian conservatives.

Jean Charest announced his leadership on Thursday. That evening, he had his first campaign event of his bid for the leadership for the Conservative Party of Canada at the Wildrose Brewery in Calgary, Alberta. We were on location to cover the story.

We will be asking the questions you want answered and telling the other side of the story throughout the leadership race, so make sure you visit LeadershipReports.ca regularly so that you don’t miss the latest coverage from across Canada.