They are not going to have former conservative leader Erin O’Toole MP to kick around any more. He gave his farewell speech to parliament the other day. Let’s face it, the conservative party of Canada is going to hell in a handbasket—as the expression goes. And O’Toole doesn’t want to go down with the ship. You could just see the current leader, MP Pierre Poilievre, who could not wait to get home and report this offence to his mirror.
O’Toole’s message was clear. He was warning his party that they are responsible for the decline of democracy in Canada. He complained of the divisiveness, the deliberate polarization and living off the ‘Likes’ they could get on-line. It was definitely a farewell and “F— you” speech.
Despite the criticism, Poilievre was seemingly polite in publicly acknowledging O’Toole’s service to his country and his party. The two men shook hands and gave each other a hug.
O’Toole’s time as leader of the conservatives was very different from what we are seeing today under Poilievre. O’Toole earned the enmity of many MPs and politicos in the conservative party by using the right wing of the party to get him the secondary votes that helped him win the leadership in 2022. When he reverted to a more middle-of-the-road conservatism after winning the leadership, the knives came out.
What O’Toole did that really did him in though, was his standing alone in his private television studio during the election and divulging his view on where the party should be going. It was this venue as well as his inability to equate the vaccination mandates and putting a price on carbon that guaranteed his ouster. He fought the fight for a while and finally caved in.
It is hard to believe that a party that had just gone through two party leaders chosen by ranked balloting, who could not sustain their leadership against the different philosophies of their party members. You would think they would learn. And what is worse other parties are also following them with ranked ballot fiascos.
But I also think that any party that would support a leader who knowingly ignores global warming, would rather stretch the truth and spend all his (or her) time denigrating the current government and its leader rather than make any positive efforts, is failing to serve Canadians.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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