O’toole swaps Poilievre for Fast as finance critic
First big tweak since assuming leadership
OTTAWA • Conservative Leader erin O’toole has shuffled the Conservative caucus roles and moved Pierre Poilievre out of the high-profile role of finance critic.
It marks the first shuffle O’toole has carried out since being elected last August.
Poilievre now becomes the party’s the critic for jobs and industry, a newly created role, with ed Fast taking over as finance critic.
The shuffle is aimed at preparing the ground for the next election, as O’toole’s team sees the ballot question framed around who has the best plan to rebuild Canada’s economy after the pandemic.
Other changes include Alberta MP James Cumming becoming the COVID-19 economic recovery critic and Manitoba MP raquel dancho as critic for future workforce development, two roles that are also new and don’t have exact analogs in the Liberal cabinet. dancho, who was first elected in 2019, is one of the younger caucus members that O’toole has been keen to promote.
“Our team is relentlessly focused on rounding the corner in this pandemic and getting Canadians back to work,” O’toole said in a statement. “We can’t afford a Liberal economic experiment that has failed wherever it’s been tried before and will put untold Canadians out of work.”
The changes were prompted in part by MPS Peter Kent and Cathy Mcleod announcing they won’t run in the next election. New roles include Jasraj Singh hallan taking over as immigration critic, Jamie Schmale becoming Crown-indigenous relations critic, and Corey Tochor becoming critic for families, children and social development.
but the most notable move is Poilievre, who has been in the key role of finance critic since 2017. Poilievre has held his Ottawa suburban riding since 2004 and is one of the best known Conservative MPS, especially popular with the party’s base. Last year he was expected to be a front-runner in the leadership race before he surprisingly dropped out at the last minute, citing family reasons.
As a parliamentary pit bull, Poilievre was effective at getting under the skin of former finance minister bill Morneau, particularly during the small business tax reform controversy and the We Charity scandal. Morneau resigned as finance minister and Liberal MP last summer, and Chrystia Freeland — a more formidable political communicator and parliamentary jouster — has been finance minister since then.
While Poilievre will no longer be the party’s primary spokesperson on Canada’s finances, a source — who requested confidentiality to discuss internal party matters — pointed out he’s still in a key economic portfolio and denied it was meant to be a demotion.
Still, Poilievre’s move out of the finance critic role will give him less of the spotlight on the party’s front bench. he has long taken a hard line on economic issues and organized labour, a message that is somewhat out of step with the direction O’toole has been moving the party. O’toole has advanced a friendlier tone toward labour unions and started emphasizing messages such as “solidarity” when it comes to economic growth.
Fast, a lawyer who has represented the b.c. Lower Mainland riding of Abbotsford since 2006, brings a different sensibility to the role as he squares off against Freeland. Fast spent four years as international trade minister in Prime Minister Stephen harper’s government. during that time he stickhandled major new trade deals, including the Comprehensive economic and Trade Agreement with europe and the Canada-south Korea Free Trade Agreement.
O’toole and Fast worked together in 2013 after O’toole was named Fast’s parliamentary secretary and the two men have a strong relationship, a source said — despite the fact Fast endorsed Peter Mackay in the 2020 leadership race after having endorsed O’toole in 2017.
The source said O’toole wanted to give Fast a more prominent role in caucus.
Although election speculation has been circulating in Ottawa since last summer, the slow vaccine rollout has dimmed the chances of a spring election. O’toole has also so far been unable to substantially boost his party’s standing in the polls. The Liberals are still hovering around the 35 per cent mark, with the Conservatives further down around 30 per cent.
Other moves in the shuffle are rachael harder becoming critic for digital government; dane Lloyd and richard Lehoux becoming critics for rural economic development and John Nater as critic for middle class prosperity.