News that Rona Ambrose will not be seeking the leadership of the federal Conservative party is a let down for one local party official.
John Bell is the electoral district association president for the Conservative Party of Canada in Thunder Bay-Superior North. He had Ambrose as his first choice to lead the party.
Ambrose announced she was not going to enter the leadership race choosing instead to keep her private-sector job in Alberta and work for change in other ways.
“Certainly I’m a bit disappointed, she had many of the characteristics we were looking for, she was progressive,” says Bell.
The local Conservative official is pleased that Peter MacKay is in the race since MacKay was his second choice. Bell believes “he’s going to appeal to a fairly broad swath of those people within the party and…people in particular areas where we had previously not done as well as we had hoped.”
Interested candidates having until February 27 to enter. The new Conservative Party leader will be selected at a June 27th convention in Toronto.
