Manning center Event Canceled

We regret to announce that this year’s Manning Networking Conference is cancelled. We will gather again March 25-27, 2021 at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.


Health and safety concerns combined with lower participation make any event at this time largely impossible.


I want to acknowledge the incredible amount of work, planning and investment that goes into an event like this: our staff, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and many volunteers – thank you! To our vendors and the hotel staff at the Ottawa Westin, I can only imagine the difficulty you are going through at this time. We have a great hospitality industry in this country – we are with you!


This morning we reached out to the various Conservative leadership campaigns to propose the scheduled March 26th leadership debate still go ahead as a live-streamed event. We will keep you apprised.

We will be sending separate correspondence to registrants, sponsors, exhibitors and speakers over today and tomorrow with regard to next steps.

CPC: The list of candidates for leadership

The Conservative Party has confirmed the final list of Approved Applicants for the 2020 Leadership election. Those that have met at least the first requirement of the Leadership race are:

Gladu, Marilyn
Husny, Rudy
Karahalios, Jim
Lewis, Leslyn
MacKay, Peter (also a Verified Candidate)
O’Toole, Erin (also an Authorized Contestant)
Peterson, Rick
Sloan, Derek
Approved Applicants have submitted $25,000 of the $200,000 registration fee required, and 1,000 membership signatures of endorsement of the 3,000 required. Authorized Contestants have submitted a further $25,000 of the $200,000 registration fee, the entire $100,000 compliance deposit, and a further 1,000 membership signatures of endorsement of the 3,000 required. Verified Candidates have submitted all requirements.

CPC: to host two official leadership debates

The Conservative Party will host two official leadership debates – one English debate in Toronto, and one French debate in Montreal. The Toronto debate will take place April 17th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, while the Montreal debate will take place April 23rd at the l’Amphithéâtre du Gesù.
“The decision to hold the debates at this point of the race means candidates appearing on the stage are actually those that will appear on the ballot,” said Dan Nowlan, co-chair of the Leadership Election Organizing Committee. “We also took into account that these are held at or after the membership deadline, allowing candidates to focus their efforts on their own campaigns and recruiting new members to the party.”
Toronto and Montreal will be the two party sanctioned debates, and all Verified Candidates will be expected to attend as per the Leadership election rules.