Former federal and pro‎vincial cabinet minister Tony Clement will join the Conservative leadership race on Tuesday, sources say. Clement, who finished third in the 2004 Tory contest won by Stephen Harper, will make it official at Mississauga’s Streetsville Overseas Veterans’ Club. Clement, 55, will become the fourth candidate in the race, joining MPs Maxime Bernier, 53, (Beauce) Michael Chong, 44, (Wellington-Halton Hills) and Kellie Leitch, 45, (Simcoe-Grey). He was also a key figure in the 2003 amalgamation of the federal Tories and the Canadian Alliance that united the right after a decade in the political wilderness. The theme of his campaign will be “empowerment” and his supporters plan to tout his experience as a grassroots activist who helped rebuild the provincial Progressive Conservatives before Mike Harris led them to power at Queen’s Park in 1995.

Source: thestar July 08, 2016 20:48 UTC