Tory race erodes party’s credibility

On Sunday, Erin O’Toole became the first of the two presumptive front-runners to call for the Conservative leadership race to be put on hold. “I’m proposing that we put the needs of our fellow citizens first,” he said — which on the one hand suggests it’s not really that important to have an able-duck Opposition leader in a time of national crisis, but which on the other hand is good news for a party that has shown an Olympian stubborn streak.

On Friday the Quebec Liberals postponed their leadership vote indefinitely, and the Parti Québécois pushed theirs back (with uncharacteristic optimism) from June 19 to Aug. 28. Both candidates for the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal leadership have called for the May 9 vote to be delayed. Even the intergalactically out-of-touch International Olympic Committee may be preparing to acknowledge reality: on Monday member Dick Pound said the IOC was preparing to officially postpone the Summer Games in Tokyo.

Indeed, most of the Tory candidates have accepted what’s necessary as well.

Of those not yet guaranteed a place in the final vote, which is scheduled for June 27, only Marilyn Gladu is still theoretically trying to raise the necessary funds. If she doesn’t have the requisite $300,000 by now, it seems very unlikely she will have it by Wednesday’s deadline. Bored as Canadians might be, “donating to longshot political candidates” cannot be high on many to-do lists. It remains only for the organizers of the race to acknowledge reality.

In theory it’s a four-person race: O’Toole, Peter MacKay, Leslyn Lewis and Derek Sloan. In the end, it will be either O’Toole or MacKay.

There are two practical options.

One is to hold the vote as soon as possible after the Wednesday deadline, abandoning the April 17 cut-off to sign up members. But that port may have already closed. Lewis and Sloan bought their tickets fair and square.

The other is to punt. Every day they delay hurts the party’s and the candidates’ credibility. They cannot resist using the pandemic to attack Justin Trudeau’s government.

Having earlier demanded Trudeau somehow seal the Canada-U.S. border — only for Trudeau to come back with a huge political win, an agreement with Washington to take back those who cross illegally — O’Toole’s campaign bottomed Friday with a ridiculous attack on Trudeau for dedicating foreign aid to fighting coronavirus.

“OTTAWA to roll out FOREIGN AID as part of the fight against COVID-19 spread,” a scary-fonted press-clipping bellowed. “Foreign aid can wait,” O’Toole tweeted. “Right now, the Trudeau government should prioritize Canadians.”

Foreign aid clearly focus-groups badly among many Conservatives, but when Andrew Scheer promised cuts during last year’s campaign, he framed it as cutting loose undeserving countries like China. This is different. If the response to the global pandemic isn’t also global, it won’t be beaten.

It’s understandable that the leadership campaigns need to take swings. And that’s exactly why no party should be having a leadership race at a time like this. A lot of people they need to vote for them later are going to remember those swings as unconscionable cheap shots.

The attraction of quickly electing a “permanent” leader remains. The federal government’s response has been somewhere between highly questionable and fairly decent, but it continues to get easy stuff wrong. Its online advice to people arriving from abroad is maddeningly blasé. It merely “asks” people to “self-isolate” — a term that meant nothing to anyone 25 minutes ago; it takes an extra click to find that “self-isolation” includes not going to the grocery store — but also to find that self-isolation doesn’t preclude “seek(ing) medical care”!

This desperately needs calling out, ideally from a safely installed Leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition. But at the very least, the contestants for that position need to be freed from the temptation to partisan excess. For heaven’s sake, shut down this race.