About Dr Leslyn Lewis

Dr. Lewis made history when she ran for leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2020. Despite the fact that the leadership race had the highest entry requirement in the history of the country, Lewis, as an outsider, managed to obtain the 3,000 signatures from 10 provinces and 30 electoral district associations as well as raising the $300,000 fee to get on the ballot.

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Lewis surprised the country within a few months by raising 2.2 million dollars and running a debt-free campaign. She won Saskatchewan’s province on the first ballot and secure the popular vote on the second ballot, earning 60, 316 votes. In October 2020, she secured the candidacy of Haldimand Norfolk, a riding that she had also won the popular vote in the leadership race on the first ballot. She was elected the Member of Parliament, representing Haldimand Norfolk in September 2021.

Lewis is the founder and managing partner of Lewis Law Professional Corporation. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, Trinity College (magna cum laude), a joint Master of Environmental Studies from York University with a Concentration in Business and the Environment from the Schulich School of Business, a Juris Doctorate Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a Ph.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School in international law.

She articled on Bay Street at Goodman & Carr and practiced civil and commercial litigation in large firms, including Lerners LLP and Thompson Rogers, before opening her full-service law firm.

After leaving Bay Street, she started her practice and received exposure to criminal law where she also has a passion for working with at-risk youth. She remains active in several youth mentor initiatives within the GTA and regularly visits jails to speak to and provide guidance to ex-gang members and incarcerated youth. She has worked extensively with at-risk youth in Malvern, Jane and Finch, Regent Park and Rexdale. She is a proponent of freedom of speech and religious freedoms and has given talks on the need for government to respect the rights of all Canadians, including those who hold religious beliefs.

In 1995 she was chosen as a student delegate for the United Nations’ 50th-anniversary celebration and represented Canada at the United Nations World Youth Leadership Training Summit.

Lewis is a long time member of the Conservative Party of Canada and has held several positions at the riding level. Lewis began her political career in the riding of Markham-Stouffville, where she was Vice President and a primary fundraiser of the riding under Paul Calandra (Member of Parliament).

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In 2015, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed her as a replacement candidate to run in the riding of Scarborough-Rouge Park only a few weeks before the vote. The riding had been plagued with a scandal, for which the previous Conservative candidate had been dismissed. An article in the National Post referred to Lewis as a “high-quality substitute.”

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