Sen. Denise Batters may no longer be welcomed into the Conservatives’ national caucus, but she remains a member of the party’s Senate caucus.
Conservative senators have chosen to keep Batters in their fold, despite party leader Erin O’Toole’s decision on Tuesday to expel her from the national caucus after she challenged his leadership.
Karine Leroux, spokeswoman for Conservative Senate Leader Don Plett, confirmed Thursday that “Senator Batters remains a current member of the Senate Conservative Caucus.”
She declined to elaborate, saying it would “invade the confidentiality of the caucus.”
The decision to keep Batters in his caucus suggests that conservative senators are challenging O’Toole, who warned Wednesday that anyone who supports his attempt to force an early vote of confidence in his leadership would be kicked out of the national caucus for not being a team player.
When former leader Andrew Scheer ousted Senator Lynn Beyak from the national caucus in 2018, the Conservative Senate caucus immediately followed suit.
Beyak was enraged by his defense of residential schools and his refusal to remove posts on his senatorial website that were deemed racist towards indigenous peoples. She resigned from the Senate last January before senators could vote on a motion to remove her from the chamber entirely.
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Plett himself tweeted his support for O’Toole’s decision to kick Batters Tuesday.
“As always, I continue to support the strong and principled leadership of Erin O’Toole to unite the Conservative Party of Canada,” he wrote.
But the other 17 conservative senators evidently had other opinions on the matter. After meeting separately to discuss it, they decided to keep hitters in the fold.
Conservative senators challenge O’Toole for ousting the senator who challenged the leadership. #CCP #CDNPoli
The hitters could not be immediately reached for comment.
But he has said he had a lot of support from senators and parliamentarians for his decision to launch a petition on Monday with the aim of forcing a referendum on O’Toole’s leadership within six months, rather than waiting for a leadership review scheduled in the national party convention. in 2023.
And she has questioned why O’Toole left her when she did nothing about conservative Sen. Michael MacDonald, who has also challenged O’Toole’s aptitude to lead.
Before the first meeting of the national caucus after the September 20 elections, MacDonald wrote to Tory MPs urging them to give themselves power to overthrow the leader.
“The status quo in the current circumstances is a mistake and a gift to liberals that this party and this country cannot afford,” he wrote.
Like Batters, MacDonald said O’Toole’s attempt to introduce a more moderate centrist party was a failure, resulting in a loss of election seats and none of the promised advances in central Canada.
This Canadian Press report was first published on November 18, 2021.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com