Tories should hold leadership vote now

The Conservative leadership campaign is not top of mind for most of us, but having a strong, effective Official Opposition matters anyway. Especially in times of crisis. Right now, we don’t have one. We need it and not sometime later. I urge Conservatives not to postpone their leadership campaign. In fact, I want them to settle it now and get on with the job Canadians entrusted them with.

I think the Liberal government is handling the COVID-19 crisis reasonably well … so far. It’s a difficult and fluid situation, and we’re all doing our best, including politicians. But the fact that they have managed OK to this point does not mean we should let Liberal ministers off the hook. Especially not when it comes to making sure we balance the need for strong, immediate action on physical distancing and isolation with long-term respect for our civil liberties. One day, this crisis will end and we don’t want to find ourselves dealing with mistakes that could have been avoided.

Watching out for that, by the way, is precisely the job of the opposition. To examine what the government is doing and help prevent things we’ll regret later. Opposition politicians also have a responsibility to support the Liberals when it’s warranted, for instance by being highly visible repeating advice from public health officials about what we all need to do to flatten the curve.

The opposition should also offer thoughtful criticism and counsel on the management of the ongoing crisis. Publicly, as much as possible. We, the citizens and voters, need to see our politicians working together in a constructive

Ask Ambrose to come back temporarily and steer the party through this crisis.

manner to solve this crisis. We need both the government and the opposition to be visible, strong, engaged and involved. At the moment, the federal Conservatives are nowhere near that because they have no leader worthy of the name.

We don’t need partisan attack dogs, and I am very grateful for the absence of sniping from just about everyone. But between that and near-complete silence, there is a lot of room. We don’t need leadership contenders measuring their remarks about the response to COVID-19 based on how it will play out with party members. We need a strong voice from the party speaking on behalf of all of us.

There is disagreement among leadership contenders about what to do. Certainly, in-person campaigning is out. Some suggest postponing the June 27 vote but so far the leadership committee is not budging.

I say no. Don’t postpone. Act now.

Two possibilities: Either the party votes on a leader right now, and deals with the consequences later, or it asks a respected figure to lead on an interim basis. I’m thinking Rona Ambrose would be a splendid choice. She’s not interested in leading the party long-term; she is well-respected within the party and also among Canadians generally; and the last time she led the CPC on an interim basis she did a bang-up job.

I don’t expect anyone within the party will take my suggestion of holding the leadership vote today very seriously, because they are worried about their own future within the party a lot more than they are about what the country needs. I would love to be proven wrong, but I won’t be holding my breath.

I agree it wouldn’t be optimal to have a flash vote right now and be stuck with the results for the foreseeable future. But hey, last time the party had a protracted 13-rounds-of-voting leadership campaign they weren’t super happy with the results either. I submit flipping a coin wouldn’t be much worse.

By far the best option would be to ask Ambrose to come back temporarily and steer the party through this crisis. Once it’s over, in three months or six months or whenever, resume or restart the leadership campaign.

The Conservative party needs to give its head a shake and remember that the job of Official Opposition is not something you do on behalf on your supporters. It’s a responsibility you owe all Canadians to fulfil to the best of your abilities. Not sometime later. Now.

Brigitte Pellerin is an Ottawa writer.