David Orchard - 1998 Progressive Conservative Leadership Campaign

1998 Progressive Conservative Leadership Campaign

Orchard ran twice for the PC leadership: in 1998 and in 2003. In his first attempt, he finished a distant second to Joe Clark on the final ballot but attracted a very different group of supporters to the Tory party in doing so. Many of Orchard's supporters were former members of the other political parties in Canada and two of Orchard's most prominent endorsers in the leadership bid were the leaders of the Green parties of British Columbia and Ontario. During the relatively quiet race, Clark famously referred to Orchard as a "tourist" in the Tory party because of his left-leaning economic platform and opposition to the free trade agreements brokered by the Mulroney government. In one debate, opponent Brian Pallister quipped that "Mr. Orchard is so left-wing, he thinks Svend Robinson is a right-wing maniac."

However, Orchard did gain respect from PC circles when he chose to stick with the Tories after Clark's victory. Orchard and his political advisor Marjaleena Repo worked hard after his failed leadership bid to rebuild several Saskatchewan PC constituency associations and improve PC membership sales across Canada. Orchard was one of Clark's staunchest defenders during the lead-up to the August 2002 convention that saw Clark resign as Tory leader after the disintegration of the parliamentary PC-Democratic Representative Caucus coalition in May 2002.