Craig Chandler

Craig Chandler (born 1970) was a candidate at the 2003 Progressive Conservative leadership convention.

Early Lobbying Activities

A Christian conservative, Chandler had been an Ontario activist in the Reform Party of Canada and its successor, the Canadian Alliance. He is the President and co-founder of the Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB). The PGIB is a right-wing think-tank and lobby group that carried particular influence on the policies of the Mike Harris government in Ontario. The PGIB was also successful in its 1995 campaign "Focus Federally for Reform" that encouraged the Reform Party not to create provincial parties and risk splitting the right-wing provincial vote in the provinces. In 1997, under the auspices of the PGIB, Chandler organized a controversial "Unite the Right" conference in Hamilton, Ontario. The conference attracted media attention for not just including delegates from the Reform and Progressive Conservative Parties but also officials from the far-right Christian Heritage Party of Canada and the Freedom Party of Ontario.

Political Activities

In 1989 Chandler joined the Reform Party of Canada. He served on the Board of Directors of the Burlington RPC constituency association. In 1993, at the age of 23, Chandler ran as the Reform Party candidate in the riding of Hamilton-Mountain and came in second. In 2000, Chandler supported the creation of the Canadian Alliance and supported Stockwell Day in his bid to become Alliance leader. In 2002, Chandler and the PGIB diverted their resources to Stephen Harper's successful leadership bid. In 2003, Chandler took out a membership in the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in order to run for the leadership on a platform of creating a coalition between the PC and Alliance party caucuses. He withdrew prior to voting in order to endorse the only other candidate that was open to tangible cooperation on the right, Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice.

Impact in the 2003 Tory Leadership Race

The night before the convention Chandler gained notoriety and condemnation after delivering a platform that the Canadian Press described as homophobic, fundamentalist and neo conservative to the bone. One journalist for Macleans Magazine described Chandler as "the dark face of fundamental social conservatism." His words were described as "bitter and resentful" by frontrunner Peter MacKay whom Chandler attacked in his speech for MacKay's support of Bill C-4-15. C-4-15 amended the Criminal Code of Canada to treat violent action based on "sexual orientation" as a hate crime. His presentation was booed by some delegates.

Regardless, some political analysts have suggested that Chandler managed to have some influence on the results of the leadership race. While Chandler suggested that he had as many as 103 "undeclared" delegates most analysts suggest that Chandler only had 12 committed delegates from a few Calgary riding associations. Chandler withdrew from the race too late to be removed from the first ballot. He was therefore formally defeated on the first ballot with 0 delegates. On the second ballot however, Tory Leadership contender Scott Brison emerged in fourth place, only 3 delegates behind Jim Prentice. Some analysts have suggested that Chandler's dozen delegates helped prevent Prentice from coming in fourth after Brison's supporters recieved a slight boost in size from some of fellow Nova Scotia Tory MP Peter MacKay's delegates. Many political analysts have wondered, given the historic aftermath of the 2003 Tory leadership convention, if the present political situation would have been any different if Brison had survived the second-ballot and could have faced off against MacKay in the third and fourth ballots.

Aftermath

After the Tory leadership race, Chandler quickly receded from the public eye. He resurfaced briefly during the 2004 Canadian election, criticizing Stephen Harper's ambiguous positions on social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Chandler also suggested that he resented Harper's attempts to "shut-up" socon MPs. Chandler recently formed the religious lobby group Concerned Christians of Canada to rally support for Evangelical Christian causes and currently resides in Calgary, Alberta.