Bye bye Erin O’Toole
The Tories gave the bum’s rush to Erin O’Toole on Wednesday. I won’t miss him, but I have mixed feelings. I prefer the Conservatives to have a weak and bumbling nebbish at the top. It’s when they get mean barracudas like Mulroney or Harper that we have to attache nos tuques.
Thomas 17:59 on 2022-02-02 Permalink
I was going to say, we should be careful what we wish for. We’ll be crying for O’Toole to come back once we’ve come to terms with a Pierre Poilievre government based on trucker law.
John B 18:00 on 2022-02-02 Permalink
He seemed like a pretty middle-ish, almost palatable, conservative, to the point where a lot of their election promises last election were to the left of the Liberals. With him out there’s a real chance of someone much more Trumpish coming in.
walkerp 18:12 on 2022-02-02 Permalink
Yes, it is worrisome. I don’t know if Canada can generate an individual with the same media history as Trump, but the model is in place. The frightening thing about the Trump model is that the wealthy and big business will hold their nose and support a Conservative party, even with a lunatic at the helm, because they know ultimately he won’t threaten their wealth. As much as the Liberals are awful, we do have an advantage against Trump tactics here in that generally most big money is okay with them.
Orr 18:14 on 2022-02-02 Permalink
The popular fear is Trumpism, but if you’ve been paying attention the real risk at this moment in history is Orban-ism.
Dominique Anglade should pull a Reverse-Charest and take over the federal conservatives. That party needs someone to counterbalance the CPC’s current western-Canadian-Oil-Party / inmates-running-the-asylum / right-wing-dictatorship tendencies.
Thomas 18:30 on 2022-02-02 Permalink
I fear the membership of the Conservative party has too much power to cede control to a Black, Francophone Quebec woman lol…
It’s funny to think that Maxime Bernier led for 11 out of 12 ballots against Andrew Scheer and only lost the leadership because he wouldn’t give in on his libertarian opinions relative to dairy prices. Had he won, he probably would have remained a normal, run of the mill Tory; and as that rare Quebecer to be popular in the West, he might even have elected a government at some point. Now we have to pray to God that he never does
Kevin 20:50 on 2022-02-02 Permalink
At some point parties will relearn that Canadians need time to warm up to political leaders.
Dominic 22:49 on 2022-02-02 Permalink
Canadians are *generally* more liberal, if you combine the Liberals, the NDP, and the Greens, thats a pretty wide swath of the population. Far right parties in a 5 party system are going to have some trouble getting seats (see PPC) at least in the short term.
dhomas 08:00 on 2022-02-03 Permalink
I agree with Thomas that Maxime Bernier probably could have led the CPC to better results, and possibly even victory. (I disagree with the praying to God part, though. ). I ran some numbers on federal elections yesterday. It’s almost always better to run a candidate from Quebec. In modern times (the past ~54 years or so), Canada has had 4 PMs from Quebec, 2 from Ontario, and 1 from Alberta. But that’s only part of it: in those years, a Quebecer has won the federal election 12 times, an Ontarian 4 times, and an Albertan 1 time.
Time spent in office:
Quebec: 41 years
Ontario: 12 years
Alberta: 1 year
Maxime Bernier could have been next in line. I’m thankful he was not chosen to lead the CPC, even more so now that we’ve seen his true colours.
(Numbers are approximate, Wikipedia math, and exclude non-elected, appointed PMs)
Meezly 10:19 on 2022-02-03 Permalink
“Social conservative and anti-abortion activists celebrated O’Toole’s decisive defeat. O’Toole’s efforts to drag the party to the centre on social issues — the party suppressed debate on abortion during the last Conservative policy convention, for example — alienated some Conservative ground troops.”
Was he really that weak and bumbling? I haven’t paying much attention but he seemed to be trying to bring the conservative party to the 21st century, or the late 20th at best! I heard that the ones who voted to oust him were essentially from the party’s religious faction, frustrated by unanimous adoption of the ban on conversion therapy before Christmas.
Bob R 11:34 on 2022-02-03 Permalink
What I write here is not about what is right and what is wrong, but about what is going to happen. The Conservatives had the highest number of votes nationwide in the last Federal election (5.74M vs 5.56M for the Liberals). The far right CPP got 0 seats on 0.84M of the votes). Where, exactly, does a Conservative Party to the right of O’Toole think it is going to get its votes? Thin air? Forget defying politics – it defies mathematics.
So I see fertile ground for a schism on the right.
Thomas 12:58 on 2022-02-03 Permalink
It’s because O’Toole was the candidate of the hard-right against Peter MacKay, so the hardcore base of the party felt betrayed when he tried to move the party to the centre after winning the leadership. The poor dears
JaneyB 14:36 on 2022-02-03 Permalink
Quebeckers will not vote for a non-Quebecker who heads a federal party eg: Layton was from Hudson so he stood a chance. For the CPC, Mulroney had a chance. Let’s hope anti-carbon tax Pierre Poilievre is too annoying even for Quebec conservatives.
Myles 18:39 on 2022-02-03 Permalink
Poilievre is from Alberta and has never lived in Quebec.
Thomas 18:43 on 2022-02-03 Permalink
Pierre Poilievre is from Alberta and is currently occupying the Ottawa area. With a few of his pals… 😉
(in all seriousness, I believe he moved to Ottawa to work for Stockwell Day and fell in love with the place such that he never left)