Now that they have a leader, the priority for local Conservative Party members is to find a local candidate they believe can defeat incumbent Liberal MP Anthony Rota.
See: Local Conservatives give the nod to O'Toole, but strong support for Leslyn Lewis
Gordan Rennie, President of the Nipissing-Timiskaming Conservative Association. told BayToday the Association is in the process of trying to identify potential candidates.
"Of course our past candidate (Jordy Carr) is eligible to run again if she seeks that but we're an open party with open nominations and we're in that search process right now. Things are fluid. We don't know there will be a fall election but it's quite possible something could happen so that's where we're focused right now."
Rennie says the plan was to see what happened with the leadership race first.
"Now that's been settled we'll get back 100 per cent to seeking potential candidates."
He also says he senses renewed energy across the riding.
"There' been strong interest with the leadership and we've got over 600 members, which is quite significant for a riding like ours. Over 100 of those are up north in the Tri-towns and there's a lot of energy there. What we need is a strong candidate who can connect with local voters and our membership so we can all work together to mount a really strong campaign "
Carr indicated after the election last October, in which she finished second to Rota, that she is interested in running again.
See: Conservative Carr gracious in defeat, already looking ahead
“I am certainly interested in running again,” she stated to BayToday after the polls closed. “I think this is the beginning of a long race. I’m happy with the results tonight. It would be great to be number one, but I think we ran a great race and I’m ready for another one.”
Candidate selection was a messy affair for the Conservatives the last time with city councillor Mark King running for the nomination, then being declared ineligible on a technicality.
See: King out and Carr in as Federal Conservative candidate
Dustin van Vugt, Executive Director of the Conservative Party of Canada, informed Nipissing-Timiskaming Conservative members of the decision in an email.
“As you may already be aware, following the closure of the nomination process in your riding, the candidacy of Mark King was disallowed, and after National Council review, that decision was upheld.”
See: King lashes out after his Conservative nomination is revoked
King then went on to run for Maxime Bernier's newly formed People’s Party of Canada.
See: Mark King announces candidacy for People's Party of Canada
King finished dead last in the five-party race, behind the Green Party.
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