Our current health crisis has put a lot of things on hold including the Federal Conservative leadership race.

Foothills MP John Barlow says the candidates have gone pretty much "all digital" for the last month.

"Although the race was continuing, they had abandoned any large gatherings or anything like that so I know leadership candidates weren't travelling, they were doing everything over social media, so I don't think that has changed a whole lot, other than delaying the actual vote."

Membership sales and fundraising have also been stopped by the party.

"My concern is I don't think that we need to, or I would hope that we don't delay this indefinitely, we saw certainly with the antics the Liberals tried to pull last week with the financial assistance package, you know they tried an unprecedented power grab as part of that, and I just think that shows we need to have our permanent leader in place as soon as possible," Barlow says.

Barlow says the race has been going on since December so those still in the running should be able to get into gear once things, at least somewhat return to normal.

"But I think those that already have a brand like Peter MacKay are the ones that are going to have the advantage, they've got the support behind them, they've been getting out there and being active, they've already completed the final criteria to be a certified candidate," he says. "So those who don't have the financial resources or the campaign team of some of the other ones are going to find this to be a bit tougher."

He says once the race resumes the front runners may have an advantage while the others will have difficulty continuing.

 

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