Scheer appoints former Liberal MP as his deputy leader

OTTAWA — The new Conservative deputy leader — a Liberal MP until 14 months ago — says she can help the party win back vital seats in Ontario.

The controversial choice of Ontario MP Leona Alleslev signals Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s determination to break the Liberal lock on the Greater Toronto Area.

“There’s no question that we didn’t do perhaps as well as we would have liked to in the last election, particularly in Ontario, and particularly in the GTA,” Alleslev, who crossed the floor from the Liberals to the Conservatives in September 2018, told the National Post. “I will have a strong voice at the table in that regard, because we need to make gains in Ontario and Canada needs us to form a majority government.”

Scheer, who is facing increasingly vocal criticism and calls to resign from party members in Ontario and Quebec, announced on Thursday that Alleslev would become his number two in caucus as he also rebuffed calls for him to step aside.

“Now is not the time for internal division and internal party politics. That is an unfortunate part of the Conservative tradition, but it’s essential that we stay focused on the task at hand,” he said.

Alleslev’s appointment risks creating further divisions in the party, as some Conservatives expressed surprise at elevating such a recent Liberal to that position. But Alleslev said her caucus colleagues aren’t concerned about her recent Liberal past.

“I would say that that’s not the feedback that I’ve been getting,” she said. “My phone has been blowing up all day actually. And I’m so grateful to my colleagues who have been overwhelmingly supportive of me being asked to fulfill this role.”

Alleslev, a former air force officer, IBM consultant and Bombardier manager, told the House of Commons in 2018 she was defecting because she’d lost confidence in the Liberals’ ability to address the country’s economic and security challenges.