So it's Erin O'Toole. The pundits are surprised -- and so is Peter Mackay. Now that analysts are beginning to sort through the votes, it appears that the party's social conseratives put O'Toole over the top. Katy O'Malley reports that:
In the end, very little about the last few hours of the Conservative leadership race turned out as expected, from the unforeseen mechanical glitches in the vote-counting process that pushed the promised reveal of the results until just before midnight to the grand finale, which gave veteran Ontario MP Erin O’Toole a decisive victory over presumptive favourite Peter MacKay after successfully securing the second and third-choice support from the other two candidates on the ranked ballot, rookie MP Derek Sloan, who was eliminated after the opening round, and Toronto-area lawyer Leslyn Lewis.
It’s worth noting that, despite coming in third on the official party scoreboard, Lewis actually won more votes than either of her two competitors in the second round, but was dropped from the ballot due to the point system, which assigns 100 points to each riding.
Judging from the final tally, it would appear that a critical mass of her supporters ultimately wound up backing O’Toole over MacKay on the third — and last — go-round.
So while the party has moved to the geographical centre of the country -- Peter Mackay has been practising law in Toronto for the last five years -- policy-wise, the party is moving to the right.
Rather than moving to the centre, conservative parties around the world are moving further right. Canadian conservatives have hopped on that bandwagon. It's an open question whether or not Canadians themselves are moving in that direction.
And O'Toole faces another problem. Stephen Harper's party has been a western-based party. It's no accident that the Wexit folks have risen in rebellion. O'Toole would dearly love to take down Justin Trudeau. But, for the present, he'll have to put out some fires in his own house.
Image: ckom.com
10 comments:
Pandering to the Wexit traitors will make the Cons unelectable east of Manitoba. Conversely, doing what's necessary to win in central and eastern Canada will further inflame Western grievances. This was always the problem with "unite the Right."
Harper managed a ten-year run largely because of the incompetent Liberal leaders he ran against. O'Toole's best bet is to whip up the stench of scandal and incompetence around JT. The Libs would be well advised to call a snap election now and go for a majority before more rot sets in.
Cap
Trudeau is giving the Conservatives a lot to complain about, Cap. But -- as was the case with Maxime Bernier's splinter group -- O'Toole is going to have a hard time keeping everybody in the tent.
I hope people realize that Canada is unique in the two Americas, as far as I know, in controlling the pandemic. The US is a basket case, Mexico and Brazil the same. I hope people understand this result was not some happy accident. Canada controlled the pandemic because the government took decisions to do so, instead of just writing off the deaths of a large segment of the population, as in the States and UK, at the beginning of the pandemic anyway.
The last thing we need is to change canoes in the middle of the rapids. The Tories don't give a damn about people's lives. A lot of them are fundies that think early death just means good people get to heaven a little faster.
The Conservatives would have handled the pandemic differently, ffd. Yet they don't tell us what they would have done differently. Buyer beware.
.. WarrenKinsella.com sums up O'Toole this AM .. and it aint pretty
Mound also hits hard at the current Politics, its creatures and Parliament
Meanwhiles (and I mean 'Mean') right wing partisan radio media
is blathering on crude and rude & call ins are just as bad
Aside from Moore in the Morning.. Jerry Agar et al can jump off a ferry
clutching a cannonball.. I'm bad with names and faces
but expert level re voices.. and its laughable
how the same voice can own an electrical contacting business one day
and operate a trucking business the next, or a restaurant on Monday
As mr Mulcair once suggested 'they must take us for fools'
I enjoyed last night.. Raptors embarrassed the Nets
and Conservatives embarrassed themselves
Nothing like a great ballot eating machine
to instill confidence eh !
O'Toole snivelled for the 2nd choice vote of evangels
knowing that Lewis and Sloan were never real contenders
Peter MacKay can go back to fishing in Newfoundland
or Toronto Harbour.. and all his Directorships
But the takeaway is the evangelicals are the heirs to Harper
If Politics was a pickup truck.. I would go full on Copperhead Road
'shoot a coat of primer then look inside'
And a complete engine tear down, suspension, brake replace
and fresh tires to boot.. We run on bias ply in Politics
and they all run with two bald wheels in the gravel.. or the grass
Recipe for disaster..
I think you've called it right, sal. The good may inherit the earth. But the evangelicals have inherited the Conservative Party of Canada.
I see a genuine disconnect between federal politics and the public interest beyond the current electoral cycle. Thank Buddha for the Charter of Rights and a Supreme Court that didn't shirk its responsibilities by acquiescing to political whim and excess.
I'm not even sure what we have today rises to the standard of a democracy. When 39 per cent of us support an election platform that has the loosest connection with truth and that delivers one party a solid majority government that is not democratic government by the consent of the governed. It just isn't. It is something else.
Now the Tories have a leader, Erin O'Toole, and a social conservative at that. How far back into the Dark Ages would they drag Canada if they dared risk it? How deeply are they prepared to divide Canadians? I think O'Toole may be manna from Heaven for Justin Trudeau.
The choice of a social conservative who is relatively unknown, and who, if the federal election is called soon, will have very little time to make himself known, does suggest the Liberals may remain in power despite the damage Mr. Trudeau has done. However, Mr. O'Tolle did claim last night that he wants to unite his party (as all newly elected leaders say). If his goal is attainable, the Conservatives might become a more middle-of-the- road party than it seems. It would be good for the Country. While voting Canadians need choices, they don't need the kind of political deadlock and turmoil that polarized Americans. I hope Mr O'Toole will be able to honour his word.
CED
O"Toole says he wants to "take back Canada," Mound. I'm mystified why conservatives want to retreat into a mythical past. First of all, the past wasn't nearly as good as they claim. And, secondly, it's manifestly impossible.
If the Conservatives are to move to the middle, CED, they're going to have to make significant policy changes. So far, that does not appear to be in the offing.
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