Stay the course

It is expected, before the end of the year, the caucus of the Conservative Party of Canada will see a report breaking down their performance in the summer’s federal election. It is also expected, this report will include a full review of Erin O’Toole’s performance as leader of the party. Despite the election not going the way this party would have hoped, I think Durham’s Member of Parliament deserves a second chance to lead the party into an election.

Now, before I get into my reasoning, I want to just let people know as a reporter, I have no political affiliations or party preferences. In fact, if anyone’s asking, I vote based on which local candidate impresses me, not based on party. It is with this outsider perspective I’m providing my opinion.

Statistically, elections during the COVID-19 pandemic have mostly favoured the incumbent party. This is likely because, Canadians are looking for less change, which they can mistake as stability, as we go through this worldwide health crisis. This was one factor which was likely to play against the Conservative party, even before the start of the election campaign. Let’s not forget, as well; it was a short campaign and didn’t really give any party a lot of time to change Canadians’ minds on who they were going to vote for.

Also, the Conservative Party was not the only one left disappointed after the election results were announced. In my opinion, the election can be seen as a failure from the perspective of all major Canadian parties.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals clearly were campaigning for a majority government. They didn’t get it. The Conservative party wanted to form government. They failed to unseat the incumbent Liberals. The NDP was hoping to at least be competitive in the race for official opposition. They finished the election in the same third-party status they were in before. Currently, we don’t see any of those other federal parties questioning their leader’s leadership following the election.

I think it’s important to state, this election was the first one for which Mr. O’Toole served as party leader. He gained experience as he worked the campaign and likely learned some lessons from it. He should be given a chance to apply those lessons and experience in the next federal election.

In addition, ousting Erin O’Toole now could set a dangerous precedent for a party which already saw Andrew Scheer resign as leader after only one election performance. And it could set in motion a trend of perpetual leadership races for the party, going forward.

I think Erin O’Toole has more to give the Conservative party as a leader, and the party’s caucus should allow him to continue serving in his current role.

#DanCearns #ErinO039Toole