身处保守党竞选领先地位的欧列利

 

目前，有14位候选人在竞逐联邦保守党领袖，他们分别是：亚历山大、卞聂尔、布兰尼、庄文浩、利奇、勒米厄、奥布莱、欧列利、奥图、彼得逊森、雷蒂、沙克腾、谢尔和特罗斯特。

There are fourteen candidates competing for this leadership contest: Chris Alexander, Maxime Bernier, Steven Blaney, Michael Chong, Kellie Leitch, Pierre Lemieux, Deepak Obhrai, Kevin O'Leary, Erin O'Toole, Rick Peterson, Lisa Raitt, Andrew Saxton, Andrew Scheer, and Brad Trost.

 

这显然是非常庞大的候选人阵容，虽然距离投票只剩下不到两个月时间，但候选人数量依然没有减少。与过去的党领竞选截然相反的是，这一次没有人愿意退出，即便是支持率很低或根本没有机会获胜的候选人也在继续坚持参选。而在通常情况下，边缘候选人都会在选举日临近时宣布退出并转为支持领跑者。

This is a very large slate of candidates indeed and with less than two months to go, it is still not trimmed down. Contrary to past leadership elections, no one wants to leave – even those with little or no chance of winning. Typically, fringe candidates will quit and throw their support behind the front runners as the election date draws near.

 

在此次党领竞选中，联邦保守党成员将会对每位候选人的参选资格和履历进行考察。他们将会考虑这些候选人的立场，是否属于支持反堕胎、亲家庭和亲宗教议程的“社会保守派”，还是属于主张改革，并远离保守党“核心”价值观的“进步保守派”。

In this leadership contest, CPC members will consider each candidate's qualification and track records. They will try to identify them as “Social Conservatives” who hold firmly to a pro-life, pro-family and pro-religion agenda, and “Progressive Conservatives” – who are willing to change and move away from the “core” values of conservative ideology. 

 

虽然这些都是影响选票的重要决定因素，但选民也同样关心候选人是否具备双语能力。因为任何未能熟练掌握法语的党领都不太可能确保囊获魁北克省的选票，从而会减少保守党在今后组建“多数”政府的机会。

While these are important deciding factors for the voters, they are also concerned about the bi-lingual capabilities of the candidates. Any leader lacking in French proficiency is unlikely to secure the Province of Quebec votes, which would diminish the chance of the party forming a “Majority” Government in future. 

 

老年人和具有族裔背景（尤其是东方文化背景）的人士往往倾向于支持“社会保守派”。而在另一方面，年轻人将会支持包容同性恋，迫切希望解决环境变化问题，并乐于接受其他非基督教宗教团体的“进步保守派”。

Elderly people and those with ethnic backgrounds (particularly Eastern cultures) will tend to emblaze “Social Conservatism”. On the other hand, youths will kindle “Progressive Conservatism” for their tolerance towards gays, sense of urgency for environmental changes, and acceptance of other non-christian religious groups.

 

今年1月对1007名受访者进行的民意调查显示，在14名党领候选人中只有4人为半数以上受访者熟知。他们分别是欧列利、雷蒂、卞聂尔和利奇。下面我们来了解一下他们的具体情况：

A recent poll in January found that only 4 of the 14 candidates are familiar to more than half of the 1007 respondents. They were Kevin O'Leary, Lisa Raitt, Maxime Bernier, and Kellie Leitch. Let us look at them in more details:

 

欧列利—现年62岁的欧列利是商人、投资人、记者、作家、金融评论员兼电视明星。看到他我不禁想起前联邦自由党领袖（叶礼庭）。他们在谋求政治职位之前都已拥有知名度，并且都曾在美国生活和工作过一段时间。欧列利在波士顿和多伦多都拥有房产，他在接受《波士顿杂志》采访时曾称“波士顿是家”。

Kevin O'leary -  He is 62, a businessman, investor, journalist, writer, financial commentator and television personality. He reminds me a lot of a one-time Liberal leader (Michael Ignatieff). Both secured name recognitions before seeking a political position and spent a time living and working in the United States. O'leary has properties in both Boston and Toronto and once claimed that “Boston is home” in an interview with a Boston Magazine. 

 

由于父亲是爱尔兰人，出生在蒙特利尔的欧列利至今仍持有爱尔兰公民身份，但是一旦他当上加国总理，他就必须放弃爱尔兰国籍。虽然欧列利不会说法语，但他表示要学法语。欧列利是在保守党于2017年1月17日在魁北克市举行党领辩论后的第二天宣布参选。许多人认为他这样做是为了避免在候选人法语辩论中出丑。

Born in Montreal of Irish father, O’Leary still holds an Irish citizenship which must be given up if and when he becomes the Prime Minister. O’Leary does not speak French but promised to take lessons to learn it. He entered the race the day after the debate in Quebec City on January 17, 2017. Many viewed that as an avoidance to an embarrassment if he participated in a candidates debate in French. 

 

2017年8月，欧列利在报纸上发表了两封致安省省长韦恩的公开信，对她制定的“碳排放与交易”政策，以及先是大力推行而后又取消“安省退休金计划”的浪费税金之举提出质疑。此举引起安省选民强烈共鸣，并促使韦恩省长进行反击。通过这些有的放矢的互动，欧列利得以在参选前进一步提升了知名度。

O’Leary issued 2 open letters in the newspapers to the Ontario Premier Katherine Wynne in August 2017 challenging her on the “Cap and Trade” policy and her waste of tax dollars on setting up and then cancelling the “Ontario Retirement Pension Program”. This action resonated well with Ontario voters and also drew rebuttals from Premier Wynne. O’Leary gained further name recognitions and popularity through these calculated exchanges before he entered the race.

 

在许多观察家看来，欧列利似乎一直在坚持单一政纲，那就是实现3%的年度经济增长。但除此之外，欧列利亦证实自己将会接受同性恋群体，实现大麻合法化，取消碳税并捍卫生育自由权。

To many observers, O’Leary seemed to have a single policy platform — achieving three per cent annual economic growth. Other than that, he also confirmed that he would embrace LGBTQ people, legalize marijuana, cancel Carbon taxes and defend reproductive rights. 

 

欧列利在2017年2月4日于哈利法克斯举行的党领辩论中首次亮相，但其表现并不尽如人意。之后他回避了2017年2月28日在埃德蒙顿举行的双语辩论，并指摘这种辩论模式“糟糕透顶”。

O’Leary 's first debate debut at Halifax on Feb 4, 2017 was less than stellar. He subsequently skipped the Edmonton bi-lingual debate on Feb 28, 2017 blaming its “terrible” format. 

 

尽管欧列利在党领竞选民调中处于领跑地位，但他的竞选之路仍然布满荆棘。有许多选民在进行通盘考虑并认识到在保守党得以再度掌权时未能熟练掌握法语的党领将会导致该党发展受限后，他们在5月可能就不会再投票支持不会说法语的欧列利。

While O’Leary is the front runner in the leadership race polls, there are obstacles standing in his way. His inability to speak French may deter many to vote for him in May when they look at the big picture and realise that the party will have limitations if and when it finally takes power again.

 

下一次，我们将了解其他亮眼注册候选人的资历，以及其背景与愿景。

Next time, we will look at the profiles of other prominent registered Candidates and their backgrounds and visions.