As a new public opinion poll suggests that the governing Liberals and the Official Opposition Conservatives are deadlocked in popularity, new Tory Leader Erin O’Toole is downplaying talk of a general election this fall.
O’Toole told reporters on Wednesday he wants to focus on what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals do to rebuild Canada’s economy, battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parliament is set to return on Sept. 23 for the speech from the Throne and there are many who believe Trudeau, who prorogued Parliament last month, would like nothing better than an election to try to make people forget the crisis he faces because of the so-called WE Charity controversy.
O’Toole, who won the leadership last month, added that his party is ready for an election and has enough money to run a full campaign if one is called.
“If they want to rattle sabres, they will find that our sabre is sharp,” O’Toole said of the Liberals. “But I’m not here for an election. I’m here for the re-launch of our economy post-COVID.”
O’Toole said he wants more focus on transitioning Canadians back to normal employment.
Doing some political housekeeping, O’Toole named Manitoba MP Candice Bergen as deputy leader, and announced the MPs who will sit on the Tory front bench as part of his House of Commons leadership team.
Bergen had been serving as the party’s House leader and made her presence felt by demanding changes to a number of COVID-19-related programs over the last six months before the Tories agreed to pass the bills into law.
Of the eight people he picked, two are women, one is a visible minority and another is a gay man.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and his new deputy leader, Candice Bergen, are pictured as they leave a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)
O’Toole said he hopes his choices will encourage more Canadians to “see themselves reflected in our conservative movement.”
Added Bergen: “We want Canadians from every part of the country to know that they are important, that they are valuable and that they are being listened to by Conservatives.”
If the Conservatives are going to take a serious run at the Liberals when the next election comes, most pundits believe the Tories must expand their base well beyond social conservatives, something O’Toole must finesse with aplomb.
Meanwhile, Trudeau on Wednesday defended his decision to prorogue Parliament, shutting down the parliamentary committees studying the WE Charity affair, and tossed the ball back to the opposition.
“The speech from the throne … will allow opposition parties to weigh in on whether or not they agree with the new direction we’re taking for building back Canada. That is a fundamentally important thing in our democracy,” the prime minister told CBC Radio in Vancouver.
With files from CBC News (John Paul Tasker), The Canadian Press
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