Peterson’s ‘outsider’ status could win over Conservatives
Rick Peterson, a Vancouverbased financial services executive, is mulling a bid to lead the Conservative Party of Canada.
He is in the process of filing papers with the party and plans to enter the race in late September, sources say.
The fluently bilingual Peterson, 61, who attended the University of Alberta and has a graduate degree in political science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, has lined up key supporters across the country to help.
This is not the first foray into politics for Peterson, who runs Peterson Capital, a firm that “helps Canada’s leading private and public companies in the micro-cap, small-cap and mid-cap sectors raise funds and increase their capital markets support.” He has been a Conservative party supporter for more than 30 years and two years back ran for the leadership of the B.C. Tories.
“He has had multiple runs at political office and has worked for the party,” said Chris Morris, founder of RC Morris & Co. a Vancouverbased investment and restructuring firm.
As British Columbia’s representative on the PC Canada Fund, Peterson helped raise money for the 2003 merger between the Progressive Conservative party and the Canadian Alliance. He has also been active in Vancouver’s Quadra riding as a board member and fundraiser.
“All it has achieved is to cost him time and money,” said Morris, who will act as financial agent for Peterson’s campaign. He thinks the Conservatives need a leader who has not been associated with Stephen Harper.
“The last 10 years were very polarizing,” he said, arguing that the situation calls for an outsider.