Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong is attacking rival candidate Kellie Leitch over her enthusiastic embrace of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Hours before the 12 leadership candidates are set to take the stage for their first debate in Saskatoon — and following a fundraising email from Leitch which praises Trump’s victory — Chong warned that Leitch’s Trump-esque embrace of identity politics would be a dead end for the Conservative Party of Canada.

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“My caucus colleague, Kellie Leitch, is urging Canadian conservatives to ape Donald Trump’s divisive path to the Presidency of the United States of America. This is a mistake,” reads the statement.

Early this morning, Leitch wrote an email to supporters in which she compared herself to Trump: “Tonight, our American cousins threw out the elites and elected Donald Trump as their next president. It’s an exciting message and one that we need delivered in Canada as well.”

Chong wrote that Canadian Conservatives win when the party offers voters an ambitious, inspiring and inclusive vision of the country and its potential.

“Kellie’s policy of singling out newcomers to Canada for special ‘values’ screening by government is a losing strategy. We should not support any move to police people’s thoughts or subject anyone to an ideological purity test.

“Generosity, opportunity, ambition are the by-words of my campaign and foundations of a winning strategy for our party in 2019.

“This we know. The Conservative Party leadership race is fast becoming a stark choice between two very different visions for our party and our country. It is an important debate in which I hope you’ll engage with me.”