TORY HOPEFULS FOCUS ON BLOCKADES
The defining issue of the week for the Conservative leadership candidates was the blockades that continue to grind parts of Canada’s rail network to a standstill.
While the government scrambles to address the issue, and the opposition parties try to hold Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to account, it’s a good opportunity for the candidates to treat the crisis like a dress rehearsal and explain how they would react in Trudeau’s shoes.
Each week, the National Post will round up the week’s events, point to themes that are emerging, and add other stray notes and observations. Here is this week’s edition of the Conservative leadership notebook.
THE BLOCKADES GET ATTENTION
The two front-runners had very different weeks: Erin O’toole released a policy proposal, while Peter Mackay had more Twitter troubles.
O’toole said that as prime minister he would introduce legislation to designate ports and major railways, highways and bridges as critical national infrastructure and make it a criminal offence to block them, even without a court injunction. He also promised to declare a general policy that police should clear blockades quickly so they don’t grow to the point where “clearing them risks violence.”
The plan from O’toole came as Mackay struggled to articulate his message on the blockades.
On Wednesday night Mackay deleted a tweet from hours earlier supporting counter-protesters in west Edmonton who took down a rail blockade. The tweet, which said Mackay was “glad to see a couple Albertans with a pickup truck can do more for our economy in an afternoon than Justin Trudeau could do in four years,” had been criticized as supporting vigilantism.
Mackay replaced it with a series of late-night tweets that took a more nuanced position. It’s the second time his social media operation has misfired, after he disowned a tweet that appeared on his Twitter account criticizing Trudeau’s yoga habit.
The internal machinations of the Mackay campaign have been a source of intrigue and amusement for the other campaigns.
One person working for a rival campaign expressed some sympathy and speculated that it was an issue of too many cooks in the kitchen and mixed messages.
Several people theorized that the campaign got cold feet when the tweet prompted a backlash from pundits and journalists on Twitter.
WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT
With a week to go before the first deadline for applicants, the race has four official contenders. Mackay, O’toole, Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu and Toronto-lawyer Leslyn Lewis have all ponied up $25,000 and retrieved 1,000 signatures in order to be eligible.
Alberta businessman Rick Peterson submitted more than 1,000 signatures, but had some rejected and will be spending the next week shoring up his application. Peterson’s campaign said it is 99 per cent sure they will make the deadline.
Former Conservative candidate and ministerial adviser Rudy Husny said he submitted his application on Thursday and is waiting to hear from the party on its approval. Even if some signatures are ineligible due to lapsed memberships, Husny said he doesn’t see any issue in meeting the threshold.
The next deadline is where things will get interesting. Candidates have to get an additional 1,000 signatures and $125,000 to meet the second threshold, which allows them access to the party’s membership list. Mackay almost immediately reached this point and O’toole made it last Friday.
The membership list contains about 300,000 names, with about half of them being current memberships and half expired memberships from the previous campaign. The candidates will be sending out emails every day, requesting donations and encouraging people to renew their memberships.
ONTARIO PC CONVENTION
The Ontario Progressive Conservatives will be holding their party’s convention in Niagara Falls this weekend and the leadership candidates will be swarming all over the place.
O’toole and Mackay hosted hospitality suites on Friday evening and Gladu will host one on Saturday evening. These are key events for the campaigns because it gives them a chance to meet some of the most enthusiast conservatives in the country.
“If you’re a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party there a very good chance you’re a member of the federal party. It’s a high impact event,” said a strategist from one of the campaigns who was at the convention.
The convention also hosts policy sessions, which can be valuable for the candidates to see what’s on the minds of the membership.