A backbench member of Parliament who entered the Conservative leadership race on a promise to trigger an inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic says he’s aware of the “political realities” he faces. Marc Dalton, a two-term representative from British Columbia who is Métis and speaks French, says he entered the contest because he felt like it was what he needed to do. “I don’t have $300,000 lined up right now,” he said, referring to fees the party says candidates must pay to enter. “That can come. I’m hopeful that it will come.” Before becoming an MP, Dalton was a Liberal MLA in B.C. He says he’s a political risk-taker and that even putting your name forward “takes guts.” “It’s not necessarily the front-runner that wins,” he said of the preferential ballot system, which the party uses to select its leaders. “It’s the second and third choices.” Dalton announced his candidacy in …