O’Toole’s first task: pick a team

OTTAWA • By midday Monday, Erin O’Toole had already spoken to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a call described as cordial and covered topics both personal and political, including western alienation. That the Tories would advocate for more action from the Liberals on that front was a key ask by Alberta MPs during the leadership campaign.

O’Toole did not speak to the media Monday, but will hold a news conference Tuesday to outline some of his plans.

Picking his team in the Commons will be a delicate task. He will need to ensure his rivals’ supporters still feel welcome, but also give prominence to those who backed him.

Party members overall delivered a solid victory to O’Toole in the race, ultimately handing him 57 per cent of the vote. Peter MacKay finished second with 43 per cent, a blow to many on his campaign team who had paraded around the Ottawa hotel that was their headquarters Sunday, boasting of their get-out-the-vote efforts.

“I feel we ran a valiant and high-road campaign,” MacKay said in a social media post. “It was an amazing experience, though not the result we hoped for. I now get to focus on family and future forms of a public service.”

The announcement of the winner was delayed by technical problems Sunday, as thousands of ballots had to be replicated by hand after the counting machine partially shredded them.

Conservative party spokesman Cory Hann said the party will review the issue as part of their election post-mortem.

Hann said he did not expect any of the campaigns to say it was an unfair process.

There was quickly a campaign, however, to try to take jabs at O’Toole.

MP Maxime Bernier, who finished second in the 2017 race, when O’Toole finished third, accused him of wearing a “true blue” mask during the campaign and warned that he is really “Liberal-lite,” offering a political home in his People’s Party of Canada for those who wanted a different approach.

Bernier broke from caucus after his 2017 loss.

Though MacKay isn’t in caucus himself, O’Toole will need to extend an olive branch to those who supported him. Several high-profile Conservatives who had backed O’Toole in 2017 threw their lot in with MacKay this time around.

There are also the MPs who remained neutral, including Alberta MP Michelle Rempel Garner and Ottawa MP Pierre Poilievre, both beloved by many of the rankand-file party members.

Also key — finding a place for Leslyn Lewis, the first Black woman to run for leadership of the party, and whose climb from political newcomer to a third-place finish cemented the power of social conservatives in the party.