Conservative MP urges party to unify around O'Toole as others question his leadership
Some re-elected Conservative members of Parliament -- along with a former leadership contender -- are lining up to say others should get united behind leader Erin O'Toole, as questions swirl about whether his election performance warrants him staying in the job.
An effort has already been started by a member of the party's national council petitioning for members to get a chance to review O'Toole's leadership earlier than scheduled in 2023, saying he's broken their trust.
As of Thursday, it had garnered around 2,300 signatures but has been dismissed by the party's president as an invalid way to trigger a referendum because a review is set to happen later, and the petition could have been signed by those outside the party.
While some believe it's time for O'Toole to go, Alberta representative Garnett Genuis took to social media to call on Conservatives to avoid "another round of internal conflict or public navel-gazing" after the unsuccessful campaign.
"We must learn the lessons of the election, share constructive feedback, and remain united behind Erin O'Toole," he tweeted Thursday.
Michelle Rempel Garner, a high-profile MP who most recently served as the party's health critic, said she expects the campaign to be reviewed, and "expect our member's and caucus concerns to be thoroughly addressed."
"Given that we are in a significant crisis period in Canada, I take Erin O'Toole at his word that he will do this and I will contribute to that process."
Another boost of support came from former leadership rival and newly elected Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis.
She was welcomed to run after her performance during the party's 2020 leadership race. As a relative unknown, she won the backing of many social conservatives from the party's grassroots, who O'Toole drew on to support his win under the ranked ballot system.
"I believe that the rush to apply judgment on our former leader Andrew Scheer, before we had a chance to complete our review of the 2019 campaign, and while emotions were still high, was unwise," Lewiswrote in a Facebook post Thursday evening.
"I believe that doing the same to Erin now would be equally unwise."
The Conservatives are projected to finish with 119 seats, two fewer than the party won during the 2019 federal election under Scheer.
The former leader made bigger gains than O'Toole did, but resigned after pressure mounted for him to leave as he continued to be dogged with questions about his socially conservative views around abortion and LGBTQ issues.
O'Toole has said he's trying to grow the party and has taken a more progressive stance on such matters. He also introduced a Conservative carbon price on fuel after winning the party's leadership on a promise to be a "true blue" candidate and axe policies like the Liberals' carbon price.
He's committed to staying on as leader and admits the party didn't make the gains it needed to in Metro Vancouver, the Greater Toronto Area and Quebec to defeat the incumbent Liberals.
"I expect a full review of our campaign, and I expect our member's and caucus concerns to be thoroughly addressed. Given that we are in a significant crisis period in Canada, I take Erin O'Toole at his word that he will do this and I will contribute to that process."
Re-elected Calgary MP Ron Liepert said going into the election O'Toole wasn't well-known and ended up effectively holding Trudeau to a draw.
"Anybody who's calling for a leadership review in the Conservative Party today needs to shake their head and give themselves a pinch," he said.
"How can you as a party continue to, election after election, change leaders and expect the public to have any confidence in you when it comes to the next election? So I am 100 per cent supportive of Erin."
Liepert said in his mind the election came down to vaccines, as a large percentage of the people in his riding supported getting immunized as well as a vaccine passport system.
"Any votes we lost, in my view, were tied into maybe not being firm enough on having people vaccinated and vaccine passports."
Conservative MPs who have also publicly expressed their support of O'Toole's leadership include Michael Chong, the party's foreign affairs critic, and Candice Bergen, who served as the party's deputy leader before the election.
Others have been more critical.
Town & Country News reported re-elected Alberta MP Chris Warkentin as saying he felt the party's electoral fortunes shifted toward the Liberals in the campaign when O'Toole began to "waffle" on some policies.
Warkentin didn't immediately return a request for comment left at his office.
One of the hits O'Toole took during the campaign was when he said he would keep a Liberal ban on some 1,500 models of firearms, including the AR-15, in place despite his platform promising to do the opposite to address the concerns of firearms owners, hunters and sport shooters.
That resulted in him inserting a footnote into the document, saying the ban would remain in place pending the outcome of a classification review.
British Columbia MP Mark Strahl has said the party needs to probe the specific reasons why it lost and posted a quote from an article Thursday on Twitter, adding "good read."
"A Conservative party that isn't conservative is pointless, but so is a Conservative party that can't form governments … what Conservatives need to figure out is how to thread this needle: not just how to win, but how to win as Conservatives," read the quote tweeted by Strahl.
No timeline has been provided as to when Conservatives will hold their first caucus meeting postelection.
O'Toole sidestepped a question this week about whether he would test if caucus wanted him to remain as leader, but said he's initiated a postelection review to examine what went right and what went wrong in the campaign.
No details have been provided as to who will conduct the review or what the parameters will be.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2021.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Local Spotlight
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Investigating the tale of Winnipeg's long-running mystery bookstore
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
'Love has no boundaries': Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.