MacKay won’t back Tory leader hopefuls
Identity politics ‘a swamp,’ warns former minister
Conservative party elder statesman Peter MacKay says he won’t endorse any Tory leadership candidate, but argues likability is important for the next leader and cautions that identity politics pushed by some hopefuls is “a swamp” the party should avoid.
MacKay said Thursday that he’s impressed with the strength of candidates in the Conservative leadership contest, and noted former cabinet colleagues Lisa Raitt, Erin O’Toole and Chris Alexander as formidable contenders.
However, he’s also concerned with the tone of debate and some of the controversial proposals from candidates like Kellie Leitch and Steven Blaney, who have focused their campaigns on identity politics.
MacKay believes that concentrating on contentious identity politics won’t help the party and isn’t what Canadians are most worried about daily.
“It’s a bit of a swamp and not where Canadians’ priorities really can be found right now,” he said. “I don’t think that people are focusing on those issues and they don’t tend to focus on those issues.
“It’s easy in a way to whip up emotion and sentiment on some of these subject matters because people have deeply, deeply held beliefs. I just don’t think it bodes well for our party and, recent history aside, to start kicking over those entrails.”
Leitch has proposed screening immigrants, refugees and visitors for “antiCanadian values,” which has drawn scorn from other candidates.
Blaney, meanwhile, has also faced criticism for promising to test all would-be citizens to preserve “Canadian identity,” force everyone to show their face at voting booths and citizenship ceremonies, and forbid federal public servants from wearing face coverings in the workplace. He also wants to establish a royal commission on Canadian identity.
MacKay said Canadians are more worried about bread-and-butter issues like jobs, quality of life, security and Canada’s place in the world, and he would much rather see candidates and the party focus on those issues.
MacKay said in September he wouldn’t seek the party crown, opening up the race for the dozen candidates who’ve now officially entered the campaign and will participate in the first debate next Wednesday in Saskatoon.
While MacKay is friends with Raitt, O’Toole and others in the race, the former cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s government said he has told all of the candidates he’s available as a resource, to help make introductions or bounce ideas off of him.
Yet, he lauded Raitt, who was also born and raised in Atlantic Canada, as someone who is a “genuine, decent, hard-working person,” and whose “common sense” in cabinet was something he always admired.
Raitt officially launched her campaign on Thursday in Toronto.
As Conservatives examine the long list of candidates in the race, MacKay said, “there’s just no getting away from the likability factor” as one of the important intangibles when picking a leader — something he said Raitt has “in spades.”