Branden Leslie is a Canadian politician who was elected to the

Canadian House of Commons The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body who ...

in a by-election on 19 June 2023. He represents

Portage—Lisgar Portage—Lisgar is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Demographics :''According to the 2021 Canadian census'' ''Ethnic groups:'' 82.3% White, 11.5% Ind ...

as a member of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

. Previously, he was a former Conservative political staffer and a policy and government relations manager with Grain Growers Canada.

Career

Leslie previously served as former MP

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as the title character on '' Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmi ...

's campaign manager, was a former political staffer for the Conservatives and was a policy and government relations manager with Grain Growers Canada. On January 25, 2023, Leslie announced that he was running for the Conservative nomination in Portage—Lisgar to succeed Bergen, the party’s former interim leader. On April 28, Leslie was selected by members to become the party candidate defeating prominent candidates such as former

Morden-Winkler Morden-Winkler is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 2008 and was created out of part of Pembina. The riding includes the cities of Winkler and Morden Morden is a dist ...

MLA and former

Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (PC; ) is a centre-right political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is currently the opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, following a defeat in the 2023 provincial election. Hist ...

cabinet minister Cameron Friesen and

Lawrence Toet Lawrence Toet (born January 2, 1962) is a Canadian politician. Born a child of Dutch parents who moved to Canada in the early fifties, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the federal Conservative Party of Canada in the 2011 el ...

, who was the MP for

Elmwood—Transcona Elmwood—Transcona (formerly Winnipeg—Transcona) is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988. Its population in 2021 was 101,691. ...

during the

41st Canadian Parliament The 41st Canadian Parliament was in session from June 2, 2011 to August 2, 2015, with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 2011 federal election held on May 2, 2011. Parliament convened on June 2, ...

(

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

–

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

). During the race, Leslie criticized Friesen for his role as Manitoba's health minister during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, arguing that Friesen's implementation of

lockdowns A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

to slow the spread of COVID-19 were unjustified. During the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

, Leslie was challenged by and defeated

Maxime Bernier Maxime Bernier (; born January 18, 1963) is a Canadian politician who is the founder and leader of the People's Party of Canada (PPC). Formerly a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, Conservative Party, Bernier left the caucus in 2018 t ...

, leader of the

People's Party of Canada The People's Party of Canada (PPC; ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party was formed by Maxime Bernier in September 2018, shortly after his resignation from the Conservative Party of Canada. It is placed from the right to the far ...

. Both he and Bernier were competing for the same voter base. Leslie revealed that he is

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the lega ...

and was captured on video saying that he would have voted against the ban on conversion therapy and supportive of the

Freedom Convoy The Canada convoy protest, known as the Freedom Convoy (French: ''Convoi de la liberté'') was a series of protests and blockades across Canada in early 2022, initially organized to oppose COVID-19 vaccination in Canada, COVID-19 vaccine man ...

. Leslie also asserted that he would not attend the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

and criticized Bernier for attending the event as

foreign affairs minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral rela ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. Leslie's campaign, in addition, circulated a flyer of Bernier wearing a Pride T-shirt implying that Bernier was pro-LGBTQ rights. After being elected, Leslie was asked about the video and if he would keep those stances in parliament, Leslie said would "vote with the will of his constituents."

Electoral results

References

Conservative Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba Year of birth missing (living people) People from Central Plains Region, Manitoba 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada {{Manitoba-MP-stub