Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership elections

The first Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was held in 1927, when the party was called the Conservative Party. Prior to then the party's leader was chosen by the caucus or in several cases by the Governor General of Canada designating a Conservative MP or Senator to form a government after the retirement or death of an incumbent Conservative Prime Minister.^[1]

There have been two permanent leaders since 1927 who were not chosen by a leadership convention. Arthur Meighen agreed to serve a second term as leader in 1941 on condition that he would not have to contest the position. The party agreed since the party was desperate for a leader of Meighen's stature. Jean Charest was one of only two Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament returned in the 1993 election and was appointed leader by the party's executive with the decision later being affirmed at a regular party convention two years later. The Conservative Party became the Progressive Conservative Party in 1942.^[1]

All leadership conventions were delegated conventions, except in 1998 when a one member, one vote process was used in which each riding was allocated 100 points which were distributed among candidates by proportionally. For the 2003 leadership election, the party reverted to use of a delegated convention, ostensibly because of the cost of using a one member, one vote process (though it has been argued that the party feared that use of one member, one vote would make an outside takeover of the party easier due to a decline in membership). In 2003, the party merged with the Canadian Alliance to form a new Conservative Party of Canada. This party adopted the one member, one vote process the Tories had used in 1998.

Note on tables: Green box indicates winner. Pink box indicates candidate eliminated from ballot for receiving the fewest votes. Blue box indicates candidate withdrew from balloting.

Held in Winnipeg, Manitoba on October 11, 1927.

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	Bennett, Richard Bedford	594	38.0%	780	50.2%
	Guthrie, Hugh	345	22.0%	320	20.6%
	Cahan, Charles Hazlitt	310	19.8%	266	17.1%
	Manion, Robert James	170	10.9%	148	9.5%
	Rogers, Robert	114	7.3%	37	2.4%
	Drayton, Henry Lumley	31	2.0%	3	0.2%
Total		1,564	100.0%	1,554	100.0%

George Halsey Perley, H. H. Stevens, John Allister Currie, John Baxter, Howard Ferguson, Edgar Nelson Rhodes, and outgoing leader Arthur Meighen were all nominated but declined to run.^[2]

Held in Ottawa, Ontario on July 7, 1938.

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	Manion, Robert James	726	46.4%	830	53.0%
	MacPherson, Murdoch Alexander	475	30.3%	648	41.4%
	Harris, Joseph Henry	131	8.4%	49	3.1%
	Massey, Denton	128	8.2%	39	2.5%
	Lawson, James Earl	105	6.7%	Eliminated
Total		1,565	100.0%	1,566	100.0%

Manion lost his seat in the 1940 federal election and R.B. Hanson became interim leader. In November 1941 a national conference of the party voted against having a leadership convention and instead appointed Arthur Meighen as the party's wartime leader. Meighen was defeated in a 1942 by-election and resigned.

Held in Winnipeg, Manitoba on December 11, 1942.

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	Bracken, John	420	48.3%	538	61.7%
	MacPherson, Murdoch Alexander	222	25.5%	255	29.2%
	Diefenbaker, John George	120	13.8%	79	9.1%
	Green, Howard Charles	88	10.1%	Withdrew
	Stevens, Henry Hubert	20	2.3%	Eliminated
Total		870	100.0%	872	100.0%

Held in Ottawa, Ontario on October 2, 1948.

First Ballot

Candidate		Delegate Count	Percentage
	Drew, George Alexander	827	66.6%
	Diefenbaker, John George	311	25.0%
	Fleming, Donald Methuen	104	8.4%
Total		1,242	100%

Wilfrid Garfield Case announced his candidacy but withdrew before the convention to support Drew.

Held in Ottawa, Ontario on December 14, 1956.

First Ballot

Candidate		Delegate Count	Percentage
	Diefenbaker, John George	774	60.3%
	Fleming, Donald Methuen	393	30.6%
	Fulton, Edmund Davie	117	9.1%
Total		1,284	100%

The 1967 leadership convention was held in Toronto, Ontario on September 9, 1967.

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot		3rd ballot		4th ballot		5th ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	Stanfield, Robert Lorne	519	23.3%	613	27.7%	717	32.7%	865	40.1%	1,150	54.3%
	Roblin, Dufferin (Duff)	347	15.6%	430	19.4%	541	24.7%	771	35.7%	969	45.7%
	Fulton, Edmund Davie	343	15.4%	346	15.7%	361	16.5%	357	16.5%	Endorsed Stanfield
	Hees, George Harris	295	13.2%	299	13.5%	277	12.6%	Endorsed Stanfield
	Diefenbaker, John George	271	12.2%	172	7.8%	114	5.2%	Endorsed Roblin
	McCutcheon, Malcolm Wallace	137	6.1%	76	3.4%	Endorsed Stanfield
	Hamilton, Francis Alvin George	136	6.1%	127	5.8%	106	4.8%	167	7.7%	Did not endorse
	Fleming, Donald Methuen	126	5.7%	115	5.2%	76	3.5%	Endorsed Stanfield
	Starr, Michael	45	2.0%	34	1.5%	Did not endorse
	MacLean, John	10	0.4%	Withdrew because he did not want the convention “to go too late”
	Walker-Sawka, Mary	2	-	Did not endorse
Total		2,231	100.0%	2,212	100.0%	2,192	100.0%	2,160	100.0%	2,119	100.0%

The 1976 leadership convention was held in Ottawa, Ontario on February 22, 1976.

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot		3rd ballot		4th ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	Wagner, Claude	531	22.5%	667	28.5%	1,003	42.8%	1,122	48.6%
	Mulroney, Martin Brian	357	15.1%	419	17.9%	369	15.8%	Did not endorse
	Clark, Charles Joseph (Joe)	277	11.7%	532	22.8%	969	41.4%	1,187	51.4%
	Horner, John Henry (Jack)	235	10.0%	286	12.2%	Endorsed Wagner
	MacDonald, Flora Isabel	214	9.1%	239	10.2%	Endorsed Clark
	Hellyer, Paul Theodore	231	9.8%	118	5.1%	Endorsed Wagner
	Stevens, Sinclair McKnight	182	7.7%	Endorsed Clark
	Fraser, John Allen	127	5.4%	34	1.5%	Endorsed Clark
	Gillies, James McPhail	87	3.7%	Endorsed Clark
	Nowlan, John Patrick (Pat)	86	3.6%	42	1.8%	Endorsed Wagner
	Grafftey, William Heward	33	1.4%	Endorsed Clark
Total		2,360	100.0%	2,337	100.0%	2,341	100.0%	2,309	100.0%

Richard Quittenton withdrew from the race before the convention began.

The 1983 leadership convention was held in Ottawa, Ontario on June 11, 1983.

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot		3rd ballot		4th ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	Clark, Charles Joseph (Joe)	1,091	36.5%	1,085	36.7%	1,058	35.8%	1,325	45.6%
	Mulroney, Martin Brian	874	29.2%	1,021	34.6%	1,036	35.1%	1,584	54.5%
	Crosbie, John Carnell	639	21.4%	781	26.4%	858	29.1%	Did not endorse
	Crombie, David Edward	116	3.9%	67	2.3%	Endorsed Crosbie
	Wilson, Michael Holcombe	144	4.8%	Endorsed Mulroney
	Pocklington, Peter Hugh	102	3.4%	Endorsed Mulroney
	Gamble, John Albert	17	0.6%	Endorsed Mulroney
	Fraser, Neil	5	0.2%	Endorsed Mulroney
Total		2,988	100.0%	2,954	100.0%	2,952	100.0%	2,909	100.0%

The 1993 leadership convention was held in Ottawa, Ontario on June 13, 1993.

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	Campbell, Avril Phædra Douglas (Kim)	1,664	48.0%	1,817	52.7%
	Charest, John James (Jean)	1,369	39.4%	1,630	47.3%
	Edwards, James Stewart (Jim)	307	8.9%	Endorsed Campbell
	Turner, John Garth	76	2.2%	Did not endorse
	Boyer, J. Patrick	53	1.5%	Endorsed Charest
Total		3,469	100.0%	3,447	100.0%

The 1995 leadership convention was held at the Palais des congrès de Gatineau^[3] in Hull, Quebec on April 29, 1995, to ratify Jean Charest as leader. Charest had been named interim leader following the 1993 federal election (and Kim Campbell's resignation as party leader), which reduced the Progressive Conservatives to only two seats, with Charest being the only cabinet minister to win re-election.

Vote to ratify Jean Charest as leader

Candidate		Yes		No
		Delegate Count	%	Delegate Count	%
	Charest, John James (Jean)	1,187	96.04%	49	3.96%
Total		1,236

First ballot was conducted October 24, 1998; second ballot was conducted November 14, 1998.

The 1998 election used a point system that allocated 100 points to each riding, regardless of the number of votes cast in the riding. The candidate who won a majority of points (not necessarily a majority of voters) would win the leadership. All party members were eligible to cast a vote. The 100-point-per-riding system was again used by the Conservative Party of Canada in its 2004 leadership race.

Points by ballot

Candidate		First Ballot October 24		Second Ballot November 14
		Points	%	Points	%
	Clark, Charles Joseph (Joe)	14,592	48.5%	23,321	77.5%
	Segal, Hugh	5,689	18.9%	Endorsed Clark
	Orchard, David	4,916	16.3%	6,779	22.5%
	Pallister, Brian William	3,676	12.2%	Endorsed Clark
	Fortier, Michael M.	1,227	4.1%	Endorsed Clark
Total		30,100	100.0%	30,100	100.0%

The 2003 leadership convention was held in Toronto, Ontario on May 31, 2003.^[4]

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot		3rd ballot		4th ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	MacKay, Peter Gordon	1,080	41.1%	1,018	39.7%	1,128	45.0%	1,538	64.8%
	Orchard, David	640	24.3%	619	24.1%	617	24.6%	Endorsed MacKay
	Prentice, James (Jim)	478	18.2%	466	18.2%	761	30.4%	836	35.2%
	Brison, Scott A.	431	16.4%	463	18.0%	Endorsed Prentice
	Chandler, Craig B.	0	—	Withdrew before 1st ballot began; Endorsed Prentice
Total		2,629	100.0%	2,566	100.0%	2,506	100.0%	2,374	100.0%

Two other candidates had participated in the race. Quebec MP André Bachand withdrew his candidacy from the race due to financial concerns and backed Peter MacKay. Former Cabinet Minister and Quebec MP Heward Grafftey also withdrew his candidacy from the race due to health concerns.

• Conservative Party of Canada leadership elections

• Parliament of Canada website