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Paediatric surgeon and former cabinet minister Kellie Leitch is gaining support from across her Nation placing her as a surprise frontrunner to lead the opposition Conservative Party.

Ms Leitch, like the US president-elect, is railing against immigration and political elites and pushing a hard-right "Canadian values" platform.

The 46-year-old has answered rising discontent in Canada over the sluggish economy and the acceptance of 37,000 Syrian refugees.

Fresh polls show Leitch is ahead of about a dozen candidates in the Conservative leadership election scheduled to be held on May 27, 2017.

The candidate chosen by party members will be their flag bearer for the October 2019 general election, against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals.

In an interview last week from her farmhouse in rural Ontario, Leitch said: "Elites pretend this isn't an issue, but Canadians want to talk about it (immigration).

"I am talking about screening immigrants, I am talking about building pipelines, I am talking about making sure Canadians have jobs, so yeah, some of the ideas and language are the same."