John Lynch-Staunton (interim) Stephen Harper Canadian Alliance leadership elections2000 · 2002 The 2004 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election took place on March 20, 2004, in Toronto, Ontario, and resulted in the election of Stephen Harper as the first leader of the new Conservative Party of Canada.

Tony Clement, a former Ontario Progressive Conservative health minister, and Belinda Stronach, the former chief executive officer of Magna International, were the other candidates on the ballot.

This system was selected as a condition of the merger, to prevent the far larger Canadian Alliance membership base from overwhelming that of the Progressive Conservatives.

42, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament for Brampton South (1995–2003), provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (2001–2003), provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (1999–2001), provincial Minister of the Environment (1999–2000), provincial Minister of Transportation (1997–1999), third place candidate in Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election (2002) Caucus Endorsements 44, Reform Party of Canada MP for Calgary West (1993–1997), Canadian Alliance MP for Calgary Southwest (2002–), Leader of the Canadian Alliance (2002–2003), President of the National Citizens Coalition (1998–2002) Caucus Endorsements 37, CEO of Magna International (2001–) Caucus Endorsements Points needed to win: 15,401

Each of 308 ridings had 100 points which were distributed by proportional representation according to votes cast by party members in the riding.The actual vote totals remained confidential when the leadership election results were announced; only the point totals were made public at the time, giving the impression of a race that was much closer than was actually the case.