CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP
Erin O’Toole hunts for support in Saskatchewan
As the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada draws to a close, candidate Erin O’Toole stopped in Saskatoon Friday in a last-ditch effort to get party members to cast their ballots for him. The former minister of veteran affairs, who represents the southern Ontario riding of Durham, sat down with Saskatoon StarPhoenix reporter Andrea Hill to discuss the race and his platform.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you face in this race?
A: I’m just trying to meet as many members as possible. I have not spent my life in politics like some of the candidates in this race. I was in the military, I was in the private sector for almost a decade, so I’m not your typical sort of politician.
Q: One of your platform items is a focus on rural crime. If you become prime minister, what will you do to address rural crime issues in Saskatchewan?
A: We’ve seen rural crime increasing, especially in Saskatchewan and Alberta. It’s in part related to economic circumstances, so we should be able to task additional resources from the federal government, namely RCMP and CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency), to take care of these rising trends. In rural parts of Saskatchewan I would like to see additional RCMP resources deployed perhaps for a year or two to make sure that people in rural parts of the province don’t feel isolated and cut off from resources that should be there.
Q: Another of your platform items is to put more resources toward addressing an increase in fentanyl-related deaths. What would that look like?
A: The border is key. A lot of the illegal opioids coming in, the really dangerous ones, are at the port of Vancouver, are an Asian trade issue, so I’d like to see our border trying to screen out more of these shipments. We can work with our American allies on that as well. I’m a military person and very proud of our Disaster Assistance Response Team, DART. I’m going to stand up a domestic DART. I want to include health providers. For a major public health outbreak you don’t have to deploy the entire DART team, but the Canadian Armed Forces have nurses, physicians, psychologists who you can acutely deploy when there’s a huge spike like we saw several months ago in British Columbia.
Q: You’re an easterner. Why should people in Saskatchewan vote for you?
A: Through my military career, I’ve served and lived in all parts of the country. That gives me a perspective, and then my track record of being able to speak to issues: military, public safety; I’m a lawyer as well. In the private sector, I’ve worked on a deal related to Potash Corporation, for example. I understand the resource economy, I worked in oil and gas as a legal analyst at a time. I’m about the private sector and making sure we see jobs, jobs for young people too.
Votes for the Conservative Party leadership are to be counted May 27. The ballot includes 13 names.
This interview has been edited and condensed.