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Indeed, most of the Tory candidates have accepted what’s necessary as well.

Of those not yet guaranteed a place in the final vote, which is scheduled for June 27, only Marilyn Gladu is still theoretically trying to raise the necessary funds. If she doesn’t have the requisite $300,000 by now, it seems very unlikely she will have it by Wednesday’s deadline. Bored as Canadians might be, “donating to longshot political candidates” cannot be high on many to-do lists. It remains only for the organizers of the race to acknowledge reality.

In theory it’s a four-person race: O’Toole, Peter MacKay, Leslyn Lewis and Derek Sloan. In the end, it will be either O’Toole or MacKay. There are two practical options.

One is to hold the vote as soon as possible after the Wednesday deadline, abandoning the April 17 cut-off to sign up members. But that port may have already closed. Lewis and Sloan bought their tickets fair and square.

The other is to punt, which seems more and more inevitable. Every day they delay hurts the party’s and the candidates’ credibility. They clearly cannot resist using the pandemic as a way to attack Justin Trudeau and his government.

Having earlier demanded (along with MacKay) that Trudeau somehow seal the Canada-U.S. border — only for Trudeau to come back with a huge political win: an agreement with Washington to take back those who cross illegally — O’Toole’s campaign bottomed out Friday with a ridiculous attack on Trudeau for dedicating foreign aid to fighting coronavirus.