Politics·PODCAST

The Pollcast: Bernier, O'Leary or someone else?

Maxime Bernier and Kevin O'Leary look like front-runners for the Conservative leadership, but with three weeks to go before voting begins, will a consensus candidate emerge? Host Éric Grenier is joined by Conservative insiders Tim Powers and Chad Rogers.

Host Éric Grenier is joined by Conservative insiders Tim Powers and Chad Rogers

Kevin O'Leary and Maxime Bernier are two of 14 candidates running for the Conservative Party leadership. (Canadian Press)

The CBC Pollcast, hosted by CBC poll analyst Éric Grenier, explores the world of electoral politics, political polls and the trends they reveal.


Maxime Bernier and Kevin O'Leary appear to be front-runners for the Conservative leadership — but neither candidate is poised to win on the first ballot. That means they will need to pick-up enough votes from supporters of other candidates in order to get over the 50 per cent mark.

Who has the better path to victory? Will another candidate emerge as the consensus alternative to these two front-runners?

The deadline for eligibility to vote in the Conservative leadership race passed on Mar. 28. Voting will begin on Apr. 28. That leaves little more than three weeks for candidates to make their final pitch. 

To discuss the contours of the evolving leadership race, Pollcast host Éric Grenier is joined again by Conservative insiders Chad Rogers of Crestview Strategy and Tim Powers of Summa Strategies.

Listen to the full discussion above — or subscribe to the CBC Pollcast and listen to past episodes.

Past episodes with Chad Rogers and Tim Powers on the Conservative leadership race:

Follow Éric Grenier and Tim Powers on Twitter.