| Branden Leslie | |
| Riding1: | Portage—Lisgar |
| Parliament1: | Canadian |
| Term Start1: | June 19, 2023 |
| Predecessor1: | Candice Bergen |
| Birth Place: | Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada[1] |
| Birth Date: | [2] |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Alma Mater: | Carleton University Brandon University[3] |
| Profession: | Manager |
Branden Leslie is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in a by-election on 19 June 2023. He represents Portage—Lisgar as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.[4] Previously, he was a former Conservative political staffer and a policy and government relations manager with Grain Growers Canada.
Leslie previously served as former MP Candice Bergen's campaign manager,[5] was a former political staffer for the Conservatives and was a policy and government relations manager with Grain Growers Canada.[6]
On January 25, 2023, Leslie announced that he was running for the Conservative nomination in Portage—Lisgar to succeed Bergen, the party’s former interim leader. On April 28, Leslie was selected by members to become the party candidate defeating prominent candidates such as former Morden-Winkler MLA and former Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba cabinet minister Cameron Friesen and Lawrence Toet, who was the MP for Elmwood—Transcona during the 41st Canadian Parliament (2011–2015).[7] During the race, Leslie criticized Friesen for his role as Manitoba's health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that Friesen's implementation of lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 were unjustified.
During the by-election, Leslie was challenged and defeated the far-right leader Maxime Bernier of the People's Party of Canada. Both he and Bernier were competing for the same voter base.[8] Leslie revealed that he is pro-life[9] and was captured on video saying that he would have voted against the ban on conversion therapy and supportive of the Freedom Convoy.[10] Leslie also asserted that he would not attend the World Economic Forum in Davos and criticized Bernier for attending the event as foreign affairs minister in Stephen Harper's government.[11] Leslie's campaign, in addition, circulated a flyer of Bernier wearing a Pride T-shirt implying that Bernier was pro-LGBTQ rights.[12] [13] After being elected, Leslie was asked about the video and if he would keep those stances in parliament, Leslie said would "vote with the will of his constituents."[14]