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An informal Draft Wall campaign has formed. It will tell him that there is a team ready to run his bid, that money is available and that research among delegates suggests he is seen as the only candidate who can save Canada from prolonged Liberal rule.

But in this case, the goal is not just save the country, but to salvage the Conservative coalition.

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Leitch, the first out of the gate, won’t have long to wait for company on the campaign trail. Quebec MP Maxime Bernier is expected to file his leadership application on Thursday.

Leitch, 45, has been assembling a team for weeks to support her bid and has already been holding fundraisers and speaking to party faithful to raise her own profile.

While she has been active in politics since she was a teenager, she was drawn into office by former Conservative finance minister Jim Flaherty and is counting on some of his supporters as she ramps up her bid.

Also in her circle are former organizers with the Ontario Progressive Conservatives. Leitch is taking a page from the successful leadership campaign of Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown in trying to recruit new members to support her run.

Brown credited his victory in that party’s leadership race in part to selling more than 40,000 memberships. But while Brown drew strength from new Canadian communities, that’s one constituency where Leitch may have a tougher time.

She was the federal party’s point person during the fall election campaign for a promise to launch a tip line on so-called “barbaric cultural practices,” a move that drew scorn from many ethnic groups.