All eyes to be on Calgary for the weekend’s Conservative convention

All eyes will be on Calgary this weekend!

“Cowtown” is playing host to more than 3,000 delegates attending the Conservative Party of Canada’s National Convention.

They’ll be discussing policy, setting framework, electing leaders and supporting older ones.

It’s been a tough week for the political party and its leader who has found himself embroiled in a Senate spending scandal.

Last week Prime Minister Stephen Harper found himself the target of attacks from Senator Mike Duffy, who insinuated Harper had been kept in the loop when former Chief of Staff Nigel Wright issued a cheque for $90,000.

Duffy, along with Senators Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin each spoke out about being “thrown under the bus” by Conservative Party officials.

The Tories are now trying to rush through a vote that could suspend their former colleagues just hours before the Prime Minister’s keynote speech Friday evening.

It’s expected the situation will have the Prime Minister on the defensive.

That’s according to University of Windsor Political Scientist Cheryl Collier who says a lot of Stephen Harper’s job this weekend will have to be reassuring “red-Tories.”

“When you are a moderate Conservative, this is something that would bother you a lot going into the next election, the answers don’t seem to be forth-coming and people appear to be covering up things,” she tells 660News.

“There’s a lot of things that are not going away with this, it’s becoming a growing scandal and this is something that the Conservatives were not hoping for,” she adds.

Members of the National Council have emailed just about everyone on their list, telling them not to talk to the media while they’re in town.

Maclean’s columnist Paul Wells says that shouldn’t be a problem.

He’s expecting to hear from the rank and file while in Calgary.

“I don’t think it will take too much ingenuity to find some people who are very upset with the situation involving the Senate scandal,” he says.

Wells says the Prime Minister has a good story to tell the base.

“He’s gotten rid of the long gun registry, he’s gotten rid of the wheat board monopoly, they have announced that they’re pulling out of the Kyoto accord,” he says.

Strategy will play a large part of what happens here, the convention (which was rescheduled after June’s flood) comes just days after the release of a revised electoral map.

Party officials plan to meet with nominees to talk about their nomination battle and with those Members of Parliament who will now have to jockey for position.

There will also be policy discussions over items like cutting funding to the CBC, investing in Canada’s north and debate over changing the leadership-selection process.

For now Wells doesn’t anticipate the Prime Minister will have any problem in maintaining the support he needs to retain the leadership, despite recent poll numbers.

Eighty-two policy amendments will be up for debate on Friday and broken down into three workshops.