Tuesday, February
4, 2003
Calgary
businessman to seek Tory leadership
By ROMA
LUCIW
Globe and Mail Update
A relatively
unknown Calgary businessman has become the sixth man to throw his
hat into the ring for the federal Progressive Conservative leadership.
Craig Chandler
announced Tuesday at a Burlington, Ont., restaurant that he will
seek to replace Joe Clark as party leader.
The 32-year-old,
a former Reform Party candidate and the head of a Christian lobby
group, will run on a platform of unifying the Tories with the Canadian
Alliance. His Web site encourages people to become members of both
parties.
"It is
time that we end the family feud between the Canadian Alliance and
the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and elect a
leader that has unity between the parties as their No. 1 focus,"
Mr. Chandler said on the site.
He joins MPs
Peter MacKay and Scott Brison, Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice, Saskatchewan
farmer David Orchard and former Conservative cabinet minister Heward
Grafftey in a leadership race. A new party leader will be chosen
at a June convention in Toronto.
Mr. Chandler
is the chief executive officer of the Concerned Christian Coalition.
Until recently, he was president of the Progressive Group for Independent
Business, a right-wing lobby group.
Mr. Chandler
has said he has enough support to register as a candidate and has
campaign teams set up in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
A spokesman
for the federal Tories said Mr. Chandler has five business days
to submit the required registration fee, deposit and signatures
in order to officially register as a candidate.
An outspoken
Christian, Mr. Chandler once characterized homosexual relationships
as "unnatural," joking that "God created Adam and
Eve, not Adam and Steve."
This time round,
Mr. Chandler said he is focusing on uniting the right, increasing
funding for the military and making Canada a better international
ally.
With a report
from Canadian Press
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