Conservative officials have confirmed Leslyn Lewis told party officials she will not attend the August 3 debate in Ottawa..On Wednesday, Lewis said in a letter to the party's Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC) that she was considering skipping the debate.."I cannot in good conscience fritter away an opportunity to meet thousands of Canadians who are desperate for answers so I can attend an impromptu meeting with leadership candidates to discuss questions to which the answers have already been memorialized in previous debate videos that exist online," she said..Lewis said she also had issues with the types of questions that would likely be asked at the debate. She said while it's easy to survey the parties' 675,000 members and cherry pick questions, she wanted a debate that would answer the questions members have been directly asking. .Lewis said if the third debate wouldn't address the topics Conservatives have asked her about, she would rather "go straight to the members myself to answer their questions.".Because Lewis is skipping a party-sanctioned debate, she will receive a $50,000 fine from the party..Pierre Poilievre will also be skipping the third debate, as he said it is "smack dab in the middle of the 'get out the vote' period.".The debate will be attended by candidates Jean Charest, Roman Baber, and Scott Aitchison..The party's third debate, to be held on August 3 at 6 p.m. ET., will be conducted in what it calls a "roundtable format." The first half of the debate will be in English and the second half in French..Unlike the previous two official debates, this one will have no audience.
