A total of 311,958 Canadians have joined the Conservative Party to support Pierre Poilievre in the leadership contest, according to an update sent out to supporters..This has broken the record for Conservative party membership sales, eclipsing the total memberships sold for each other party's 2020 and 2017 leadership races..Sen. Leo Housakos, one of the chairs of Poilievre’s campaign, said he was "feeling incredibly proud of the Poilievre movement for this record-setting achievement.".Those new members include 118,996 from Ontario, 71,759 from Alberta, 50,709 from B.C., 25,453 from Quebec, 15,333 from Saskatchewan, 12,363 from Manitoba, 6,411 from Nova Scotia, 6,210 from New Brunswick, 2,582 from Newfoundland & Labrador, 1,322 from Prince Edward Island, and 818 from the territories..Since the MP for Carleton, Ontario joined the race on February 5, 2022 he has recruited more than 1,000 new members to the Conservative Party in 111 electoral districts and sold more memberships than were eligible to vote in the 2020 leadership race..Former party leader Andrew Scheer sold fewer than 10,000 memberships directly in 2017..The existing party membership is based on the first list provided to the campaign by the party in late March 2022. At that time, there were 142,500 memberships eligible to vote on that list..The Poilievre campaign said when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ran for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, he only recruited 150,000 supporters to the Liberal Party..Those supporter memberships were free, whereas Conservative Party memberships cost $15.."What did the media and liberals say?" asked Poilievre's campaign. "Justin Trudeau said it showed that the people were 'hungry for change.' The Toronto Star called 150,000 new members 'staggering.' The National Post labeled 'unprecedented.' And the Hamilton Spectator called it 'Trudeaumania.'"."What will the media and Liberals say about Pierre Poilievre and his supporters?".Conservative leadership contenders had until midnight on June 3 to secure party memberships for their supporters to vote in the election for the next leader..The party’s leadership election organizing committee said late last month it had already broken records for how many new members candidates have signed up..“The party membership in the past two leadership races has been around 270,000 people, of which only about 60% vote,” said veteran Conservative campaigner Melanie Paradis..“From what I’ve heard from party sources, the number will now be north of 400,000," she said. "Which means that we’ve probably had like 250,000 renewals and 150,000 new members.”
