‘This is not about a sword of Damocles ... over my head’
CONSERVATIVE LEADER ERIN O’TOOLE EMERGES INTACT, BUT BRUISED, FROM CAUCUS MEETING
At least for now, Erin O’toole's leadership of the Conservatives appears safe, despite the party’s election loss and the grumbling from some MPS that he’s taken the party too far to the left.
But at their first post-election caucus meeting on Tuesday, the 119 Conservative MPS did vote to give themselves the power to conduct their own review of O’toole's leadership if enough MPS request it — a power they had declined after the last two elections.
Speaking to reporters, O’toole said he encouraged MPS to vote for that power, and insisted the Conservatives are now united.
“This is not about a sword of Damocles hanging over my head,” O’toole told reporters after the nearly six-hour meeting. “We’re united as a team. This is about having a fair and transparent process.”
He said the party’s internal review of the election will be led by James Cumming, who lost his own seat in Edmonton last month — one of three ridings the Conservatives lost in Alberta.
The review is expected to be done before the year’s end, though O’toole did not say if he would make it public.
“I am accountable: accountable for what went well, and accountable for where we fell short,” O’toole said. “I’m also accountable for where we failed in executing on our plan for Canadians, and I take that responsibility very seriously. I’m resolutely committed to reviewing every element of our campaign.”
Challenged on the party being largely shut out of the Toronto and Vancouver metro regions, O’toole defended his more centrist approach as leader and insisted the Conservatives are close to breaking through.
“I want to make sure we speak for suburban and urban families, many of whom were considering voting for us midway through this election,” O’toole said. “I think we will win more seats, I think the pandemic prevented us from securing the vote of enough Canadians.”
The caucus voted to give themselves all four powers created under the Reform Act, a source told National Post. That means caucus has the power to elect its own chair (in this case, it was Ontario MP Scott Reid); to eject an MP from caucus; to conduct a review of the leader; and to appoint an interim leader in the case of a resignation, death or incapacitation.
A leadership review would only be initiated if 20 per cent of MPS in the caucus signed a petition asking for one. If that happens, a secret ballot would then take place in caucus.
O’toole’s leadership will also be put to a confidence vote by the party’s membership at the next national convention, but that’s not scheduled until the spring of 2023.
Alberta MP Shannon Stubbs, speaking before the meeting, told reporters she’s frustrated by the election loss and believes the convention should be moved up within the next six months to allow a full leadership review.
She also criticized O’toole’s frequent exhortation that the party must have “the courage to change.”
“I don’t quite know what that means,” she said. “If what we’re talking about is changes of our policies, our values, our principles, then for me, that means it’s even more important for the members to be able to have a direct say.”
Stubbs said there needs to be an “accounting” of how the party is going to maintain its base, given the losses it suffered in Alberta’s cities and in the suburbs of Toronto and Vancouver. Overall, the party was reduced by two seats in the election and finished 40 seats back of the Liberals.
“The reality is that today, after the 2021 election, Conservatives are more rural, more homogeneous than we’ve ever been before,” Stubbs said. “And we lost great, strong, necessary colleagues in big cities in every part of this country. And there needs to be an accounting for that.”
But Stubbs’ criticism of O’toole was the outlier on Tuesday. Most other MPS either openly supported O’toole, or chose not to speak to the media.
“I thought the meeting was productive and constructive,” said Ontario MP Eric Duncan, adding he’s a longtime supporter of O’toole. “A lot of Canadians didn’t know who (O’toole) was at the beginning of the campaign, and I think he proved himself very well during it.”
Alberta MP Blake Richards told reporters he believes the dissent in caucus has been overblown.
“I do believe we have a united party, and I do believe we’ll move forward with our leader,” Richards said. “We’ll move forward in a positive way that I think will show Canadians that we’re the best party to govern this country.”
Pierre Poilievre — the Ontario MP who chose not to run in the 2020 leadership race, but is still widely considered a potential leadership contender — told reporters he supports O’toole as leader, but only gave a vague answer when pushed on why: “Because he’s the legitimate leader of the party.”