Moms take centre stage at leadership debate
O’Toole’s two mothers among family references that confounded viewers
OTTAWA—Zingers flew faster than mosquitoes on a hot summer’s night during the English language leaders debate on Thursday, but the buzz wasn’t just around the leaders attacking each other.
It was also what they said about their moms.
With conditions in Canada’s long-term-care homes exposed by the pandemic’s brutal toll there, three of the leaders were asked whether they’d place their own parents in one today.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre, died 21 years ago this month. But his mother, Margaret, turns 73 this week, and Trudeau said the subject of her future is “certainly something we’re reflecting on.”
Parents across the country cringed, wondering if Trudeau was committing a grave filial sin — admitting he was considering placing his mother into a longterm-care facility without her knowledge.
It seems like Trudeau realized he was on the cusp of a big faux pas, and he moved swiftly to clarify.
“She’s doing wonderfully right now. We won’t have to make that decision right now,” he said. “Don’t worry, Mom.”
Meanwhile, something in the way Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole phrased a statement about his upbringing set off another round of head scratching.
In response to a question about how he’d make it more affordable for Canadians to go green, he answered he was “raised by two strong women who were teachers and they told me to be straight up.”
Raised by two moms? What? Google searches for O’Toole’s history seemed to spike at that exact moment.
So, what did he mean? O’Toole’s biological mother, Mollie, died from breast cancer when he was a child and his father, John, remarried. Peggy O’Toole would go on to raise Erin and his three sisters, along with two more children.
Both women were teachers and, in his victory speech after winning leadership of the party last year, O’Toole paid tribute to the formative role both have had in his life.
“My mother, who passed away when I was nine, was a teacher. And throughout my life, I have wished she was here to give me advice. Right now, I wish she were here to see her child succeed,” he said.
“But, I know she is here tonight because I can see her in my daughter, who shares her name. Thankfully, I have had my stepmother — also a teacher — to guide me to this very day.”
Green party Leader Annamie Paul often links her personal life with the political messages she’s trying to get across to voters, and the leaders’ debate was no exception.
Over two hours, viewers learned about her husband’s connections to peace talks in Afghanistan, her brother being laid off from his oilpatch job during the pandemic, the reality facing her grandparents as they aged but had to keep working, and lessons from her own mother, Ena.
“My mom grew up on a farm, in a small community, and she learned very young and taught us that you have to give your word to your neighbours, and they have to be able to count on it, so that when you need help, they’re there for you,” Paul said during an exchange where she castigated Trudeau for not keeping his own word.