Are you ready for me? asks Rempel

Calgary MP eyeing run for Tory leadership

Calgary MP Michelle Rempel bluntly responded to calls that she succeed Stephen Harper in a stream of latenight tweets, laying out the resistance she’d expect to encounter as a young, female candidate for the leadership of the Conservative party.

“I’m a 35-year-old chick. We’re not supposed to do these sorts of things, you know,” wrote the outgoing minister of western economic diversification, who was reelected for a second term in Monday’s vote.

“But, but, but, but she’s so YOUNG and ONLY FOUR YEARS and SO BOSSY,” reads another tweet posted early Thursday. “These are the things we face. I am competent, proven and ready. Here’s the question — are you ready for someone like me?”

The tweets come amid rampant speculation about who will be the next Conservative party leader, with a handful of veteran politicians and highprofile Conservatives saying no thanks. Former leader Jean Charest and Brian Mulroney’s son Mark, a Toronto businessman, both ruled out a bid Thursday.

“But that being said, you never say never to these things,” Mulroney said in an interview Thursday.

For now, Mulroney said, he’s focused on his job as the Toronto-based head of capital equity markets at National Bank. His brother Ben is a broadcaster with CTV, and sister Caroline is an investment management executive.

“It’s not something that hasn’t crossed my mind and my brother’s mind, but I’m focused on the job at hand,” he said.

Since Harper announced his intention to step down after his party’s defeat on Monday, several names have been circulating as potential successors including MPs Jason Kenney, Lisa Raitt, Kellie Leitch, Michael Chong and Tony Clement.

Kenney has been one of the party’s most successful fundraisers — bringing in $450,000 alone to his own riding since January, and another $300,000 through other activities, a Conservative source told The Canadian Press.

Raitt hasn’t ruled out a run, but said this week that the party needs to first do a proper analysis of the last election campaign and figure out where it’s going. A convention date has not been set yet, but a leadership committee was struck on Tuesday evening.

Rempel’s comments were spurred by an apparent onslaught of messages from supporters, who called on her to “do it” and run for leader. In an interview Thursday,

But that being said, you never say never to these things

she would not say for certain whether she was planning a bid.

“We need to ensure that we are sending a message through our leadership race that we are open to hearing all sorts of ideas and perspectives from different types of candidates in different types of regions,” she said. “There isn’t one preconceived box that defines who or what we’re looking for.”

As for her gender, she said she never felt being a woman held her back in her career; rather, that she didn’t want anyone selecting themselves out of the leadership pool.

Meanwhile longtime MP Diane Finley signalled she would seek to be interim leader, a job that is appointed by the parliamentary caucus.