SOME ANIMATED TAKES ON THE LEADERSHIP.

TORIES SHARED SPACE WITH A BETTER-ATTENDED GATHERING OF COSPLAYERS

This weekend’s Conservative leadership convention shared space at the Toronto Congress Centre with the (much better-attended) 2017 Anime North convention. The National Post’s Maura Forrest took the opportunity to get out of the political bubble and talk to some real Canadians about their views on the issues and who they were hoping would win the leadership.

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

Name: Jim McDonald. Character: Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony

Preferred candidate: Uncertain, but is glad Kevin O’Leary dropped out

On fiscal policy: “I’m definitely all for balancing the budget. … We’re paying, I forget what the percentage is, but it’s a huge percentage of just our annual budget paying interest on the loans. What if we weren’t paying that interest? What could we do with that money?”

On whether dismantling supply management would improve trade relations with the U.S.: “I think it would be a good thing, but with the current leadership in the States, I don’t think it would matter. Because they’d forget it in about five seconds.”

YAMI BAKURA

Name: Leah Zajdman. Character: Yami Bakura and the Destiny Board of Doom

Preferred candidate: Michael Chong

On Chong: “I really don’t want what’s happening down there (in the U.S.) to happen up here. So maybe it’s even just the contrast of Michael Chong versus someone like Kellie Leitch. … I remember when I was reading about him, I felt more like, OK, that’s actually a person I could be, like, you know what? Even if I didn’t like him, I’d be OK with him at leadership, as opposed to some of the other people, where I’m like, I don’t want them to touch it, I don’t want them to be near it with a 10-foot pole.”

A FURRY

Name: Chris Anderson. Character: Nonspecific furry

Preferred candidate: Maxime Bernier

On attending both the anime and leadership conventions: “I spend the majority of my time at the anime convention. I mean, there’s not too much to do here, when you compare it. … But I was going to mail my ballot in, until I saw that it was exactly the same date, exactly the same location, so I thought I’d drop it off in person.”

On gun regulations: “I’m kind of a single-issue voter. So myself and a lot of my friends are gun owners and we find (Bernier’s) platform on firearms ownership is the strongest. … He’s the most libertarian of all the candidates. We’re looking for more freedom in terms of what we can do in terms of gun ownership. Looking to get rid of things like the UN firearms-marking scheme, which is actually very damaging to the Canadian gun ownership.”

CHOCOLINA

Name: Sarah Pearce. Character: Chocolina from Final Fantasy XIII-2

Preferred candidate: Uncertain, but is glad Kevin O’Leary dropped out

On tax policy: “I used to work at Shoppers. And the full-time people that worked there, they’re getting, like, borderline minimum wage and they’re taxed up the ass. So they’re struggling because of it. So hopefully they’ll change that, so that we can actually live properly, and not, like, food off the floor type of deal.”

DARTH VADER

Name: Will Smith. Character: Darth Vader

Preferred candidate: Uncertain, but is kind of glad Kevin O’Leary dropped out

On taking issue with social conservative values: “Forward thinking on social issues is a big thing that I think a lot of people are caring about right now, in this day and age. … All of those issues surrounding that, mostly. The equality issue of same-sex couples and identifying genders and whatnot.”

HARLEY QUINN

Name: Sonia Krivankova. Character: Harley Quinn

Preferred candidate: Uncertain

On opposing a Canadian values test: “I’m an immigrant, so I only moved here about seven years ago. And getting here was pretty hard, just getting the acceptance to get here. I know my parents waited for 10 years, just because the first time got cancelled, they didn’t let them through. And the second time they actually got past. So I would say it’s really hard to immigrate to Canada, in my opinion. … It’s just getting harder and harder.”

HECTOR

Name: Jackie Chiem. Character: Hector from Fire Emblem

Preferred candidate: Uncertain, but knows Kevin O’Leary dropped out

On a Canadian values test: “I would probably align with that. Because I think that there’s a huge culture clash, which is why there’s stuff that’s been happening, I guess because some of us might not accept Westernized values.”

On cutting taxes: “But then what do we lose? Because if you put the taxes lower, then we lose other funding. We have to see what gives greater value to the people, right, and then we’ll decide.”

LUX

Name: Emma Cayen. Character: Lux from League of Legends

Preferred candidate: Maxime Bernier

On Bernier: “I don’t think he’d be into anime, but more in the sense that he’d be more accepting of our culture. More accepting to be around this kind of people, than, say, Kevin O’Leary or Stephen Harper before — God, no. He would not like this.”

I’M DEFINITELY ALL FOR BALANCING THE BUDGET. WE’RE PAYING ... A HUGE PERCENTAGE OF JUST OUR ANNUAL BUDGET PAYING INTEREST ON THE LOANS. WHAT IF WE WEREN’T PAYING THAT INTEREST? WHAT COULD WE DO WITH THAT MONEY?” — JIM MCDONALD

J.P. MOCZULSKI FOR NATIONAL POST Cosplay fans gather at the Anime North convention at the Toronto Congress Centre, where the Conservative leadership convention was also taking place, on Saturday.