Conservative BC Leadership Race Heats Up

0:00It's April 24th. This is Canada News Today, AI-powered stories from your city. I'm Cory with the story. All five candidates in the Conservative Party of British Columbia Leadership Race hit the stage for the first debate Friday in Vancouver. Former Cabinet Minister Iain Black, commentator Caroline Elliott, ex-federal MP Kerry, Lynn Finley, MLA, Peter Malibar, and entrepreneur Yuri Fomer. Go head-to-head for 90 minutes at the Canada Strong and Free Network Conference. They're stepping up to replace John Roustad, who bounced after a caucus revolt back in December. What started as a tight match-up between moderate-faved Milla Bar and populous Elliott has blown wide open. University of British Columbia politics experts Stewart Press calls the stakes sky-high with the whole field now unpredictable and fair game. Recent shakes include a campaign manager stepping down over some shady-mailers targeting Roustad, and another MLA turns out he knew nothing about it.

1:00Meanwhile, former's polling strong, claiming credit for signing up over 15,000 new members and earning nods from key player Aaron Gunn. Party membership exploded to more than 42,000 since December, up from just 7,000, setting up a wild vote where former could shine. Early. Keep eyes on who lands the killer lines. Friday, this race just keeps heating up.