O'Toole sacrificed the all-important immigrant vote on the altar of Quebec

National Post, 24 September 2021

Surely the position that the human rights of ethnic and religious minorities in Quebec have no defender in the Conservative leader did not help win over new Canadians.

This was a minority election in all respects, with doleful consequences for some of Canada’s minorities.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the election in order to get a “mandate” to continue in office. He managed to do that in historic fashion. Never in the annals of the Dominion has a government been elected with as small a share of the popular vote — fewer than one-in-three voters opted for the Liberals. Twice now, Trudeau has won elections, Donald Trump style, with fewer votes that his opponent.

Hillary Clinton, who was readily available to endorse Trudeau given that the Clinton endorsement is not highly sought after in her own country, must have been terribly conflicted on Monday night. After all, she spent four years reminding everyone that she got more votes that Trump.

Before getting to the consequences of this election, let’s spare a thought for Andrew Scheer, who was re-elected on Monday in his Regina riding. In 2019, despite beating Trudeau in the popular vote and holding him to a minority, he was pilloried for failing to do what no one has ever done in Canadian history — namely, a new leader defeating a first-term majority government.

At the time, Scheer would tell anyone who would listen that he had presented a painfully moderate platform, despite the Liberals’ fear-mongering that he was some sort of wild-eyed fanatic. Few were willing to listen.

So out went the unfailingly decent Scheer, to be replaced by a savvy successor who would brilliantly tack right and left, up and down, north and south, east and west, expertly positioning the Conservatives to avoid the same fate.

O’Toole, looking fit and trim, trimmed nearly all discernibly conservative ideas from his platform, declared himself giddily liberal on social issues, went all-in on Quebec nationalism, abandoned his principles and dropped policies on a dime when the national media demanded it. Yet he got fewer seats than Scheer did.

It’s one thing to stand for something and lose. It’s another thing to stand for your rival’s positions and do worse.

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