Manitoba MP Candice Bergen elected as interim leader of Conservative party

Manitoba Member of Parliament (MP) Candice Bergen is the new interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

The federal Conservative caucus elected Bergen Wednesday evening after Erin O’Toole was removed from the job earlier in the day.

Bergen previously served as deputy leader for the party.

The party must now start preparing to pick a permanent leader.

It will be the third such race in the past five years.

O’Toole will stay on as MP for the Ontario riding of Durham. He says the party needs both an intellectual force and a governing force.

Following last year’s election, the Conservative caucus gave itself the power to trigger a leadership review instead of waiting for the question to be put to the wider membership.