WATCH: Exclusive interview with Tory leadership candidate Marilyn Gladu

Gladu was quick to condemn the mainstream media as “biased”—later pledging to scrap Justin Trudeau’s $600 million media bailout, which has proved to be a sore source of contention for Conservative members of Parliament.

The leadership vote itself will be taking place in Toronto on June 27. As a result of the sheer longevity of this campaign, Gladu—who considers herself the “dark horse” candidate—will have plenty of time to convince the Conservative members that she is a serious alternative to Peter MacKay and Erin O’Toole.

Gladu said she would review the CBC’s mandate: “Increasingly, with people being able to stream content, [Canadians] are choosing what they want to watch and we have to let them have their choice, and the CBC mandate should be reviewed.”

Gladu has been vocal about her plan to enlarge the Conservative Party base, believing it to be a necessary component of any general election victory. Gladu believes there were “issues with the leadership” under Andrew Scheer, which proved to be unsustainable for a party hoping to govern.

“Polices that we came out with [in the 2019 general election] did not resonate with Canadians, and we saw a lot of negativity on the climate change plan.”

“We know that Andrew Scheer struggled: he seemed uncomfortable to talk about abortion and the LGBTQ. Canadians are at a place where these things shouldn’t be what we’re focussing on. We have bigger problems in the country,” Gladu added.

Gladu is also a registered gun owner, which should help her in courting the significant contingent of the Conservative base who are fellow gun owners, many of them making up the over 140,000 upset Canadians who signed a record-breaking petition calling for the Liberals to give up on their ham-fisted gun ban.

“I’m totally opposed to [the Liberal gun ban],” said Gladu.

“The problem in Canada, is that 95 percent of gun crime is guns used illegally or illegal guns. Putting laws in place doesn’t work because criminals don’t obey the law. If you put a handgun law in place, the criminal won’t obey that.”

Before entering politics, Gladu worked as an engineer for Dow Chemical for over two decades. She was first elected in 2015 and served as a chair of the Standing Committee on Status of Women.