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Lewis has never been an MP though she did run for the Conservatives in 2015. She was parachuted into a Toronto riding at the last minute after old video surfaced of the nominated candidate urinating into a coffee cup while working in someone’s home. He quit and the party convinced her to run, but she lost to a Liberal.

She declined an interview request Wednesday, as she has most mainstream-media queries in recent weeks as she’s been building her profile among party activists and with third-party organizations, including the Campaign Life Coalition.

The pro-life group has endorsed her, and she also counts among her supporters Charles McVety, a prominent Christian activist who has called her a “breath of fresh air” as a strong Christian woman who is anti-abortion and in support of traditional marriage.

McVety and the Campaign Life Coalition come from different wings within the socially conservative right in Canada, a faction of the Conservative movement that has had major influence on leadership campaigns in past years.

Two other people — Richard Decarie, a former Conservative aide and organizer, and Derek Sloan, a current eastern Ontario MP — are both trying to position themselves as the social conservative candidate in the current race, but neither has submitted completed applications to the party yet.

Lewis said people need to stop capitalizing on what she calls “potentially divisive labels.”

“It’s time we had the courage to call this out and take steps to heal our divisions,” she said on her website. “And I believe it starts by knowing that it takes courage not only to hold your own opinion, but also to respect someone else’s right to hold theirs.”