The federal Conservatives will choose a new leader this weekend and Banff - Airdrie MP Blake Richards will be on the convention floor.

The party will be selecting a replacement for Stephen Harper, who stepped down as leader in October of 2015 after losing the general election to Justin Trudeau and his Liberals.  Rona Ambrose has served as interim leader since November 5th, 2015.  13 candidates are running to become the new leader.  Richards has endorsed Ontario MP Erin O'Toole.

"That's where my vote went for sure and I was encouraging everyone I knew to do the same.  I think he'd make a great leader.  Erin O'Toole I believe is one who checks off all the boxes that we need in a leader.  I think we'd be best served if we could see him as the future Prime Minister of Canada."

Maxime Bernier is thought to be the front runner to become the new leader of the party and Richards says Bernier got his second vote and is someone he respects and has worked with in the past.  

Richards says he too thinks Bernier will get the lions share of first votes, however, "I think that anyone who says they're able to predict the results of this is really trying to fool people.  It's a very complex set up with the points system we have set up for the ridings and also the fact that second, third place votes might even come into play.  It's really hard to predict.  But I tend to agree that Maxime Bernier probably will have the most first place votes.  It's really going to be a matter of how many he has in the first place to see if anyone has an opportunity to overtake him based on the second choices from some of the candidates as they drop off."

That's where Richards believes that O'Toole could win in the end.  "Erin O'Toole has that ability to be able to appeal to a broad range of the candidates and their supporters as they drop off.  I think that gives him a good chance of, not only winning the leadership, but I think it shows he's also the best placed to lead us into the next election because he'll be able to appeal to a broad cross section of Canadians."

Richards says the fact that many of the candidates are not well known hasn't hurt the Conservatives.  "I think the key thing when you're choosing a leader is to get the right person.  I say to people, 'had you heard of Rona Ambrose two or three years ago?'  Most people say no, and they'll say she's done a great job and they know who she is now and they're quite fond of her.  The same thing could be said about Stephen Harper before he became Prime Minister of Canada.  A lot of people didn't know who he was.  We'll make sure Canadians know who they are and know all about them in a very short fashion."

Bernier, O'Toole and Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer are thought to have the best chance at winning the leadership.  The votes are expected to be counted and the results known by around 4:00 pm MT on Saturday.  

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