THE CONSERVATIVES' LEADERSHIP PROBLEM

 Tory MPs should be wary of their first post-election meeting on Tuesday; to judge from an uncommonly self-serving email sent to supporters by Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, they are being swarmed and hustled to confirm O’Toole as leader 15 days after he blew the election. Under Conservative MP Michael Chong’s Reform Act of 2014, when recognized parties where the chairperson of the caucus receives a request signed by at least 20 per cent of the party’s caucus asking for a leadership review, the caucus chair shall order that a secret ballot be taken promptly among all of that party’s MPs. If a majority vote to replace the leader, an interim leader is appointed until a formal leadership election is held.

I never blame anyone for trying to hang onto their job, and I never blame a leader of an organization, particularly a political party, for stuffing the upper echelons of the organization with loyalists to try to repel challengers. In this case, O’Toole has sent out a very peppy letter that incites the inference that there should be no consideration of whether he continues in his position and that the election was some sort of victory for his party and himself because when it was called, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his collaborators thought they would win a majority. Instead, they made significant gains, the Conservatives lost what were considered safe seats and hundreds of thousands of votes compared to 2019, and although the government was extremely vulnerable on a wide range of issues, O’Toole gave Trudeau a free pass on every substantive point and pitched his party’s campaign on the theory that he is a more substantial individual than the prime minister.