Conservative leadership candidate Lesleyn Lewis will not attend next week’s mandatory debate. The news comes after Lewis posted an open letter on Twitter on Wednesday to the party’s Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC), saying candidates were not given enough time to rearrange their campaign plans to attend the debate and that he hoped the format would deviate from “usual questions” and instead address other issues. “Dr. Lewis has committed to meeting with local grassroots members in person next week,” campaign spokesman Micheal Hettrick wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca on Thursday. “He will honor those commitments.” Lewis’ campaign will be automatically fined $50,000 for failing to attend an official debate. Candidate Pierre Poilievre is also skipping the event. That leaves only Jean Charest, Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber to take the stage for the final official debate of the campaign season. Meanwhile, Conservative Party Chairman Rob Budderson told CTV News Channel last week that the candidates received “plenty” of notices about the third debate and the decision to hold it is in the best interest of party members. The party confirmed on Thursday that Batherson himself will moderate next week’s debate. The bilingual event will take place on Wednesday, August 3rd in Ottawa. With files from CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier
