In 2020, the Conservative Party of Canada held a leadership election held to elect a new party leader. The election was prompted by Andrew Scheer's announcement in December 2019 that he would resign as party leader.[3] The election was conducted by postal ballot from mid-July to 21 August 2020,[4] with the ballots processed and results announced on 23–24 August 2020.[5] The $300,000 entrance fee made it the most expensive leadership race in the history of Canadian politics.[6]
The election was originally scheduled for 27 June 2020, but on March 26, the party suspended the race due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic crisis in Canada.[7] On April 29, it was announced that the race would proceed by postal ballot with the election itself being rescheduled from June to August.[4] MacKay led the first ballot with 33.52 per cent by a narrow margin of around 2 per cent. O'Toole subsequently led on the second ballot and won on the third ballot, becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party.