Conservative MPs urge party to rally around O’Toole as leader

Some conservative reelected members of Parliament, along with a former candidate for leadership, are lining up to say that others should rally behind leader Erin O’Toole, as questions arise about whether her electoral performance justifies her remaining in office.

A member of the party’s national council has already launched an effort to request that members have a chance to review O’Toole’s leadership ahead of schedule in 2023, saying it has broken their trust.

As of Thursday, it had obtained around 2,300 signatures, but the party chairman dismissed it as an invalid way to trigger a referendum because a review is expected later and the petition could have been signed by outsiders.

While some believe it’s time for O’Toole to go, Alberta Rep. Garnett Genuis took to social media to ask conservatives to avoid “another round of internal conflict or navel-gazing” afterward. of the failed campaign.

“We must learn the lessons of the elections, share constructive comments and stand united behind Erin O’Toole,” he tweeted Thursday.

Michelle Rempel Garner, a high-profile congresswoman who recently served as the party’s health critic, said she hopes the campaign will be reviewed and “hopes that the concerns of our members and the caucus will be fully addressed.”

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“Given that we are in a period of significant crisis in Canada, I trust Erin O’Toole with his word that he will do this and I will contribute to that process.”

Another boost of support came from former leadership rival and newly elected Ontario MP, Leslyn Lewis.

She was welcomed to run after her performance during the 2020 party leadership race. As a relatively unknown, she won the endorsement of many grassroots social conservatives in the party, whom O’Toole turned to in support of her victory. under the classified voting system.

“I think the rush to pass judgment on our former leader Andrew Scheer, before we had a chance to complete our review of the 2019 campaign, and while emotions were still high, was reckless,” Lewis wrote in a Facebook post. Thursday night.

“I think doing the same with Erin now would be equally reckless.”

The Conservatives are projected to end up with 119 seats, two fewer than the party won during the 2019 federal election under Scheer.

The former leader made greater strides than O’Toole, but resigned after pressures mounted for him to leave as he continued to be dogged with questions about his socially conservative views on abortion and LGBTQ issues.

O’Toole has said that he is trying to grow the party and has taken a more progressive stance on these issues. He also introduced a conservative fuel carbon price after winning the party leadership on the promise of being a “truly blue” candidate and eliminating policies like the liberals’ carbon pricing.

He is committed to remaining leader and admits that the party failed to make the necessary breakthroughs in Metro Vancouver, Greater Toronto, and Quebec to defeat the Liberals in power.

“I look forward to a full review of our campaign, and I hope that the concerns of our members and the caucus are fully addressed. Given that we are in a period of significant crisis in Canada, I take Erin O’Toole at his word that he will do this. and I will contribute to that process. “

Calgary’s re-elected MP Ron Liepert said that going into the election, O’Toole was not well known and ended up holding Trudeau in a tie.

“Anyone calling for a leadership review in the Conservative Party today should shake their head and pinch themselves,” he said.

“How can you as a party carry on, election after election, changing leaders and expect the public to have any confidence in you when it comes to the next election? So I support Erin 100%.”

Liepert said in his mind that the choice came down to vaccines, as a large percentage of people traveling supported vaccination, as well as a vaccine passport system.

“All the votes that we lost, in my opinion, were linked to maybe not being strong enough in getting people vaccinated and passports vaccinated.”

Conservative MPs who have also publicly expressed support for O’Toole’s leadership include Michael Chong, the party’s foreign affairs critic, and Candice Bergen, who served as the party’s deputy leader before the election.

Others have been more critical.

Town & Country News reported that Alberta’s reelected MP Chris Warkentin said he felt the party’s electoral fortunes shifted to the Liberals on the campaign trail when O’Toole started “whining” about some policies.

Warkentin did not immediately respond to a request for comment left at his office.

One of the successes O’Toole received during the campaign was when he said he would maintain the liberal ban on some 1,500 firearm models, including the AR-15, even though his platform promised to do the opposite to address the concerns of firearms. sport owners, hunters and shooters.

That prompted him to insert a footnote into the document, saying the ban would remain in effect until the outcome of a classification review was known.

British Columbia MP Mark Strahl has said the party should investigate the specific reasons it lost and posted a quote from an article Thursday on Twitter, adding “good read.”

“A conservative party that is not conservative makes no sense, but so is a conservative party that cannot form governments … what conservatives need to figure out is how to thread this needle: not just how to win, but how to win as conservatives” , read the quote tweeted by Strahl.

No timeline has been provided for when the Conservatives will hold their first caucus meeting after the election.

O’Toole sidestepped a question this week about whether he would test whether the caucus wanted him to remain leader, but said he has started a post-election review to examine what went right and what went wrong in the campaign.

No details have been provided on who will carry out the review or what the parameters will be.

This Canadian Press report was first published on September 23, 2021.