OTTAWA – Alberta MP and former cabinet minister Rona Ambrose says she will run for the interim leadership of the Conservative party.
She is the fifth candidate to publicly declare herself a candidate in the contest, to be decided at a caucus meeting Thursday.
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Ambrose, who has held eight different cabinet posts since 2006, says she is well known for her civility in the House of Commons and believes a new, more respectful tone is what the party needs.
She says the interim leader will need to cultivate a higher profile in the media to compete with communications-savvy rival Justin Trudeau.
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Ambrose, who is bilingual, says she has the energy needed to travel across the country to rally volunteers and to fundraise–including in the province of Quebec–as the party prepares for the race for the permanent leadership and the next election.
The caucus will also need to vote on whether senators will be able to cast ballots for the interim leadership–and Ambrose says they should not be excluded.
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