REPORT DETAILS TORY CAMPAIGN ERRORS

O’toole vows to make changes amid criticism

OTTAWA • Conservative Leader Erin O’toole says he will be making changes to his team and to his political strategy in light of an internal review conducted by former Conservative MP James Cumming about the past election.

“I’m responsible for the loss and I want to make sure that we gain the confidence of more Canadians so I will make changes myself to our team, to our strategy," he told reporters during a news conference Thursday evening.

Sources told the National Post that the report touched on poor outreach to ethnic communities in urban centres and disappointing communication from O’toole in the final weeks of the last federal election.

The four Conservative sources briefed on the report’s content were granted anonymity to speak freely about the report, which National Post has not viewed.

Cumming’s review consisted of roughly 400 interviews with caucus members, party insiders and campaign analysts. According to sources, only a few caucus members declined to participate in Cumming’s work.

He also received 80 written submissions.

“That’s a lot of consultation,” said one source, who noted the quality of Cumming’s work.

One section of the review focused on O’toole’s performance throughout the fiveweek campaign last summer that included both “positive and negative” feedback from participants.

While he managed to dodge issues such as abortion and climate change in the first few weeks of the campaign, the Conservatives were put on the spot by other “traps” set out by the Liberals, said one source.

The source pointed to the flip-flop around the “assault-style” weapon ban from the Liberals and said there was “clearly a reference to that issue” in the report.

Near the end of the campaign, the leader’s responses to questions became overly “message-oriented” instead of sounding genuine and providing “direct” answers, added another source.

“I got comments that in the last week of the campaign, I seem too scripted. I’m sure everyone in this room probably agrees with that,” joked O’toole on Thursday.

The report also pointed out to the use of a TV studio in an Ottawa hotel and stressed the need to hold more in-person events and showcase his team.

O’toole said he wants to “get out there and meet more Canadians in person” and said he’s just “as frustrated as are so many Canadians working from home, working virtually.”

Another issue the review highlights is the party’s poor performance when it comes to both reaching out to ethnic communities and recruiting candidates from them.

One source noted the party lost three members of Parliament who had seats with significant Chinese communities, and that the report came to the conclusion that Conservative need to do a “better job” of reaching out to them on Wechat, for instance.

In general, Cumming was told that Conservatives need to significantly improve their outreach to ethnic communities and do better at speaking to them on their most popular public forums.

“We need to do a better job communicating in ethnic communities’ first language, using platforms and mediums that the community uses in culturally appropriate ways,” one source said.

O’toole said there will be a “commitment and a set of plans” to build trust with cultural groups going forward.

“We have to make sure we bring more Canadians into our party. Make sure that their voices are being heard so that we can win the next election,” he said.

Sources say the review also contains “dozens” of recommendations for Conservatives

I GOT COMMENTS THAT ... I SEEM TOO SCRIPTED.

that aim to make the party battle-ready for the next federal election, and that O’toole has already accepted “all” of them.

The Cumming report also concluded that O’toole is the “right person to lead the party into the next election,” according to two sources.

The author of the report would not comment on specifics, but said he hoped his work will spark some changes.

“I hope there is a strong plan in place to execute the report. If you don’t act on it, it just sits on a shelf and gathers dust”, said Cumming.