The president of the Pontiac Conservative riding association has floated the idea of nominating former Prime Minister Stephen Harper as interim leader of the federal Conservative Party.

Richard Hofer made the suggestion in . . .

an email to fellow members of the riding association on May 14. He told Michael Harris of The Tyee that he sent the initial note to 50 people interested in politics locally (most were members of the riding association), and then sent it to approximately 20 public commentators.

In the email, Hofer invoked Winston Churchill as an example, pointing to the fact that the British Prime Minister stepped out of retirement to lead the country to victory in World War 2.

Hofer compared the current Conservative Party’s need for a leader to Britain’s need at the outset of the war.

“Sometimes the man seeks the position,” the email reads. “Sometimes the position seeks the man. Canadians need to draft Stephen Harper into service again.”

Hofer argued that the amount of money being spent on pandemic relief means tough economic choices need to be made.

While the party’s leader is currently Andrew Scheer, the leadership convention has been postponed until August from it’s initial June date, where most pundits expect Erin O’Toole and Peter McKay to be the front-runners.

Scheer announced in December 2019 that he would be stepping down as soon as a replacement could be named.

But the idea of installing Harper as an interim leader was quickly shot down by Pontiac’s Conservative candidate in the last election, Dave Blackburn, in an opinion piece he wrote for QuebecNouvelles.info on May 25.

Blackburn said that while he respected Hofer’s idea, he believed that it was time to go ahead with the leadership convention. He also argued the time to put Harper’s name forward was when nominations were open.

For his part, Blackburn also wished the leadership contest was held back in June.

He argued that party members are going to be less likely to send in ballots during the summer months, especially after being cooped up for so long because of the pandemic.

Blackburn made it clear in his opinion piece that his choice for the conservative leadership is former Harper cabinet minister Peter MacKay.

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