Leslyn Lewis

Leslyn Lewis is a Canadian lawyer and former political candidate who placed third in the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election. She was the first visible minority woman to run for the federal Conservative Party leadership. After the leadership election, she sought and was acclaimed the Conservative nomination in Haldimand—Norfolk, and will contest the riding in the next election.
Early life and education.
Raised in East York, Ontario, she emigrated to Canada at age 5 from Jamaica.
Lewis graduated magna cum laude from the University of Toronto (Trinity College), and holds a Master of Environmental Studies from York University with a concentration in Business and Environment from the Schulich School of Business, and a Juris Doctor and PhD in international law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.
Career.
Lewis has practised law for 20 years and is the managing partner of Lewis Law, specializing in commercial litigation and international trade practice, with a focus on energy policy, and has hosted her own television show called "Law Matters".
Lewis ran in the 2015 federal election campaign as the Conservative Party candidate for the riding of Scarborough-Rouge Park, after a scandal disrupted the campaign of the previous candidate.
In 2018 she was appointed under Premier Doug Ford to the board of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and was later named to the foundation's committee responsible for dispensing funds for youth programs.
In 2019 she was awarded the Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence by the Black Business and Professional Association.
Politics.
2015 federal election.
Lewis began her political career in the riding of Markham-Stouffville, where she was vice president and a primary fundraiser of the Conservative electoral district association while Paul Calandra was Member of Parliament. In 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed her as a replacement candidate to run the riding of Scarborough-Rouge Park only a few weeks before the vote after the previous Conservative candidate had been dismissed due to a scandal. An article in the "National Post" referred to Lewis as a “high-quality substitute". She placed second to Liberal candidate Gary Anandasangaree, receiving more than 13,000 votes.
Conservative Party leadership candidate.
In February 2020, Lewis was confirmed as an official leadership contestant for the Conservative Party of Canada, following the resignation of Andrew Scheer as leader in December 2019. Had she been successful, she would have been the first visible minority woman to lead any of the three major federal Canadian parties.
Her platform was socially conservative. While she considers conversion therapy "an atrocious thing", she raised concerns about the Canadian government's proposed ban, citing an unclear definition that risks penalizing conversations with parents or religious leaders. She stated that while she personally defines marriage as between a man and a woman, she would not roll back existing legislation allowing equal marriage in Canada. She has stated that she would like to make marijuana access more restrictive and that she thinks reactions to climate change are overblown "in some respects". She has publicly described herself as "pro-life, no hidden agenda" and as leader would have the Conservative Party move to ban sex-selective abortion and coerced abortion, increase government funding for crisis pregnancy centres (which counsel women against abortion), and she would end foreign aid funding for abortion. Her candidacy has been endorsed by pro-life advocacy groups including the Campaign Life Coalition.
She opposed carbon taxes and supports promoting green technology as an alternative policy.
Despite Lewis leading the second ballot on the popular vote, she was eliminated after placing third in points.
Future candidacy.
On August 25, 2020, Lewis announced that she would be running for a seat in the House of Commons in an undisclosed riding in the next federal election. On September 15, 2020, she formally announced that she would be seeking the Conservative nomination in Haldimand—Norfolk. She was acclaimed as the Conservative candidate in the riding the next month. She will contest the seat in the next general election or, if the Prime Minister calls it before the general election, in a by election.
Recognition.
In May 2019 she was awarded a Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence by the Black Business and Professional Association.