Former talk radio host Jamil Jivani has won the Conservative Party of Canada’s nomination for the Ontario riding of Durham.
Jivani will seek the seat of former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, who resigned from the seat earlier this summer.
Jivani defeated the race’s other candidate Theresa Corless – an Oshawa-area school board trustee who had received attention for supporting Covid-19 restrictions and social causes like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Upon winning the nomination, Jivani thanked his supporters, volunteers, and family, and reflected on his journey from a rocky upbringing to possibly becoming a member of parliament.
“If you told me I was going to make it to a point like this, where I get to be part of a team that’s going to kick the Trudeau Liberals out of Ottawa, I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Jivani.
Jivani warned that Durham’s byelection, whenever Justin Trudeau calls the election, will not be “normal,” and that the Liberals will do everything in their power to tarnish his reputation.
“This is not going to be a normal byelection,” warned Jivani.
“The left is going to have a conniption fit, they are going to freak out. They are scared of me and what we’ve built in Durham.”
Jivani, the former president of the conservative advocacy group Canada Strong and Free Network, resigned his position in April to campaign for the Conservative nomination.
Jivani was fired as a talk radio host with Bell Media’s Newstalk 1010 in Toronto. Jivani has claimed he was fired for his political beliefs.
Jivani is in the process of suing Bell for wrongful contract termination and for refusing to “play the company’s identity politics and play the role of a black stereotype.”
O’Toole congratulated Jivani on winning the nomination, posting a 2018 picture on X (formerly Twitter) of O’Toole discussing Jivani’s book Why Young Men with him.
Conservative politicians and members of the conservative movement congratulated Jivani on his nomination including Saskatchewan MP Garnett Genuis, Conservative Party President Rob Batherson, and Ginny Roth of Crestview Strategy.
Editor’s note: Noah Jarvis, the author of this article, previously worked with Jamil Jivani through the Canada Strong and Free Network’s Conservative Values Tomorrow internship program.
