O’toole builds team, stakes ground on China, social issues
Trudeau wants early vote, new Tory leader says
OTTAWA • The new leader of the federal Conservative party, Erin O'toole, says he's preparing to ask Canadians to give him the job of prime minister because he believes the Trudeau Liberals “may be trying to trigger” a snap election that would centre on the response to the pandemic and catch O'toole early in his leadership.
“If Mr. Trudeau thinks he can play some games with a new leader and force an election, we will be ready,” O'toole said at a Tuesday morning news conference. "(Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau would rather play politics than do his job.”
In his opening comments, O'toole sought to portray himself as a champion for average Canadians, saying it was time for Ottawa to “stop catering to insiders and special interests,” and warned that political attacks against him have already begun.
“You'll also be hearing a lot of Liberal spin about me,” said O'toole. “In fact, it's already started. Don't buy it.” O'toole described himself as being raised in a “General Motors, middle-class family in a neighbourhood where everyone looked out for one another.” He talked of his own family dealing with the challenges of the pandemic. “We know what it's like to worry about our kids and their anxiousness about returning to school,” he said.
He also foreshadowed some of what his election platform might look like when it comes to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and doubled down on his hawkish China stance from the leadership campaign.
“I will lead a government that rebuilds our economy and creates long-term good-paying jobs with ambitious national projects, infrastructure and federal programs,” O'toole said. “To make it easier for people to get ahead, we will trade freely with free nations and not spend our time chasing trade deals with predatory countries like Communist China.”
On his first day as party leader, O'toole said he spoke with Trudeau and discussed Western alienation with him, calling it a “significant threat to Canadian unity.” O'toole also had phone calls with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, he said. He said he will be arranging an in-person meeting with Quebec Premier François Legault and will soon announce his shadow cabinet.
O'toole was speaking to the media for the first time since winning the party's leadership in a lengthy contest that stretched into the early hours of Monday morning due to technical issues.
In his answers to reporters' questions, he took care to make it clear where he stands on abortion and gay rights, two issues that caused trouble for former leader Andrew Scheer during the 2019 election.
“I am an MP with a clear track record on standing up for human rights, whether it's women, whether it's the LGBT community,” he said. “I won the leadership of the Conservative party as a prochoice Conservative MP, one that won with a strong mandate. That's how I'm going to lead as leader of the Opposition, that's how I'll be as prime minister. I'm in politics to defend the rights of Canadians to secure a brighter future.”
He also repeated some of his comments from his victory speech about how he wants to broaden the party's support among all communities.
“Canadians haven't always seen themselves in our party, and I'm going to change that,” he said, adding that he wants to ensure someone can find a home in the party regardless if “you're Black, white, brown, or from any race or creed, whether you're LGBT or straight, whether you're an Indigenous Canadian, or joined the Canadian family three weeks ago, or three generations ago.”
O'toole, who is the MP for Durham, saw off the leadership challenges of former cabinet minister Peter Mackay, Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis and MP Derek Sloan. Down-ballot support from social conservatives who supported Lewis and Sloan helped O'toole defeat Mackay, who was widely seen as the race's frontrunner but had become deeply unpopular with some parts of the party base.
On Tuesday O'toole announced the senior staff who will work for him in the Opposition leader's office and prepare the party for the next election campaign.
His chief of staff will be Tausha Michaud, who worked on O'toole's leadership campaign and also advised him while he was minister of Veterans Affairs in 2015.
Fred Delorey, who was O'toole's leadership campaign manager, will now take on the role of the party's national campaign manager, meaning he'll be quarterbacking the election readiness strategy.
Alupa Clarke, a former MP from Quebec who was defeated in the 2019 election, will be a senior adviser in the opposition leader's office. As Quebec chair for O'toole's leadership campaign, Clarke helped organize O'toole's victory over Mackay in the province, a decisive factor in the race.
The new executive director for the party will be Janet Fryday Dorey, assuming she's ratified by the party's national council. Dorey is a former president of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party.