Erin O’Toole

Thursday February 3, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 3, 2022

Did the truckers get Erin O’Toole fired?

August 25, 2020

Only days ago, O’Toole could have expected that he was safe until a scheduled leadership review in mid-2023. But in a surprise Wednesday morning caucus vote, he was turfed out by a margin of 73 to 45. Just like another former Tory leader, Andrew Scheer, he’s going to stick around as an MP.

O’Toole’s ouster marks the first time since the Second World War that Tories have elected two consecutive party leaders who have failed to become prime minister. The only comparable episode came in the waning days of the Progressive Conservative party, when members chewed through three leaders until eventually disbanding to merge with the Canadian Alliance. Conservatives have traditionally been more patient with their leaders; Progressive Conservative Leader Robert Stanfield was notably allowed to lose three elections in a row (1968, 1972 and 1974) without any kind of caucus revolt.

Friday January 28, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 28, 2022

Erin O’Toole has to unhitch Conservatives from the ‘Freedom Convoy,’ or get run over

August 17, 2021

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has been putting down internal rebellions ever since last fall’s general election. This week, he is facing his greatest challenge yet: a new variant of concern running wild in his party.

Three high-profile MPs have openly defied Mr. O’Toole by coming out in support of the convoy of don’t-vax-me truckers snaking its way eastward on the Trans-Canada Highway as a protest against Ottawa’s newly imposed cross-border vaccine mandates for drivers.

One of the three, Pierre Poilievre, was named as the best choice to lead the Conservatives into the next election in a recent Nanos Research poll conducted for The Globe and Mail. Another, Candice Bergen, is the deputy leader of the party. The third rebel is Andrew Scheer, the previous leader.

Saturday December 18, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 18, 2021

Toronto city council votes to help fight Quebec’s Bill 21 in court after Brampton calls for support

September 17, 2019

Toronto city council unanimously voted in support of helping to fund a legal fight against Quebec’s law restricting religious symbols Thursday, after Brampton called on other Canadian cities to join in the initiative.

John Tory, the mayor of Canada’s largest city, said in a tweet he would put the request to council Thursday, repeating that both he and city council have repeatedly voiced opposition to Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21.

On Thursday, city council unanimously voted in favour of the motion to reaffirm the city’s opposition to the bill. City council will also contribute $100,000 to support the joint legal challenge to the bill being brought by the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the World Sikh Organization and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

“Today, city council made it very clear that Toronto stands with municipalities from across Canada in opposition to Bill 21 and in support of the legal challenge against this bill,” Tory said in a news release Thursday. 

October 3, 2019

“We cannot simply stand by as Torontonians and Canadians and see a law like this diminish the protection and respect accorded religious and other basic freedoms by our Canadian Charter of Rights of Freedoms.”

He also  encouraged other cities to join the fight to “uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Tory was adding his voice to an initiative from Brampton city council, which also voted Wednesday to contribute $100,000 to challenging the Quebec law and encouraged other cities to donate.

Adopted in June 2019, Bill 21 prohibits the wearing of religious symbols such as hijabs, kippas and turbans by teachers and other government employees deemed to be in positions of authority. Debate over the law was revived this month with news that a teacher in Chelsea, Que., had been reassigned because of her hijab.

Patrick Brown Retrospective

Brampton calls itself one of the most diverse communities in Canada and says it wants to show its support for what diversity brings to local communities and Canada as a whole.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown calls Bill 21 discriminatory and says freedom of religion is a fundamental principle that must be upheld.

Since Brown called on other cities to get involved, several communities across the country have indicated their support for his initiative and will put requests for funding to their respective councils.

By late Wednesday afternoon, the motion had already won the support of Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek. (CBC) 

 

Wednesday November 17, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 17, 2021

O’Toole kicks senator out of Conservative caucus after she questioned his leadership

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has kicked Saskatchewan Sen. Denise Batters out of the national caucus a day after she launched a petition calling for an expedited review of his leadership.

November 9, 2021

“As the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, I will not tolerate an individual discrediting and showing a clear lack of respect towards the efforts of the entire Conservative caucus, who are holding the corrupt and disastrous Trudeau government to account,” O’Toole said in a media statement late Tuesday.

The statement was released shortly after Batters emerged from a virtual meeting of the Senate Conservative caucus. The Conservative leader in the Senate, Manitoba Sen. Don Plett, took no action against Batters on that call.

Instead, Batters said she learned she was out of the Conservative fold through a telephone message from O’Toole.

January 22, 2021

“Tonight, Erin O’Toole tried to silence me for giving our CPC members a voice. I will not be silenced by a leader so weak that he fired me VIA VOICEMAIL,” Batters said in a social media post.

“Most importantly, he cannot suppress the will of our Conservative Party members!”

Batters launched the petition Monday, saying she and other party members have lost faith in O’Toole. She argued the party experienced “significant losses” in the fall campaign after O’Toole flip-flopped on major issues such as carbon pricing, firearms and conscience rights. She said she wants members to have a say on O’Toole’s future prior to the planned 2023 party convention.

September 14, 2021

Party rules require an automatic leadership review at the first national convention following a failed federal election campaign. Batters has said she wants that vote to happen in the next six months.

“Mr. O’Toole flip-flopped on policies core to our party within the same week, the same day, and even within the same sentence. The members didn’t have a say on that, but we must have one on his leadership,” Batters said in a statement announcing the petition.

Under the party’s constitution, a referendum on any matter can be launched if five per cent of Conservative members sign a petition calling on the party to poll the membership on the topic through a referendum. (CBC) 

 

Tuesday November 9, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 9, 2021

Trained Seals and their Trainers

Impatience was mounting among Liberal caucus colleagues as they waited for the first national caucus meeting since the election in September.

Radio-Canada spoke to several Liberal MPs, on the record and on background, who said they were eager to make their voices heard on issues at an official gathering.

October 26, 2021

Two weeks age, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with his newly appointed cabinet ministers, but backbench MPs say they’re confused why the whole team hasn’t met yet since securing a minority government in September.

Quebec MP Alexandra Mendès said she found the wait puzzling, while Ontario MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith said there was no possible reason for the delay.

“There’s no explanation or excuse for not having already had a national caucus meeting,” he said at the time. “I expect we will have one shortly.”

September 11, 2019

Another MP, who didn’t want to be named, acknowledged there was a certain level of frustration in the caucus.

The federal Liberal caucus finally met for the first time on November 8. (CBC) 

Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said today he expects his party’s MPs to promote vaccines and leave talk about their efficacy to the health experts — a comment that comes after a Conservative caucus member made some eyebrow-raising comments about COVID-19 shots over the weekend.

October 21, 2021

O’Toole and his team have been grappling with questions about vaccines for months as some of his party’s MPs and senators have spoken out against mandatory shots or have avoided getting vaccinated altogether.

O’Toole has tried to walk a fine line — telling Canadians he supports the vaccination campaign while opposing mandatory vaccination rules for public servants and the travelling public.

O’Toole also has said his party will challenge a House of Commons Board of Internal Economy policy that requires all MPs attending Parliament in person to be vaccinated — but has refused to say how many Conservative caucus members are fully vaccinated.

June 10, 2021

A group of Conservative parliamentarians recently formed what they call a “civil liberties” working group to advocate for the unvaccinated.

While promoting the group’s work during an appearance on CTV, Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu suggested that polio — a disease largely eradicated in Canada through vaccinations — posed more of a threat than COVID-19.

“In terms of the risk, people that got polio, many of them died and many of them were crippled, and that is not the same frequency of risk that we see with COVID-19,” she said in an interview on the network’s Question Period program.

“I’m just receiving the information from medical experts that talk about the relative risk. I’m not a doctor myself.” (CBC)