Erin O'Toole's ouster frees party of leader embarrassed by conservatism
National Post, 02 February 2022
O’Toole offered his shifting self alone as the foundation of this new Conservative party
The rejection of Erin O’Toole by his own parliamentary caucus is a humiliation nearly without precedent. Not even Joe Clark, heretofore the most hapless of federal leaders, was dispatched so. There at least three lessons to take from the thumping O’Toole took from his caucus.
First, O’Toole forgot that he was a Conservative. Not small “c” conservative. Who knows — least of all O’Toole — exactly what his political philosophy is, whether conservative, liberal or otherwise?
The most hilarious aspect of his floundering these last days was a report that he was soliciting support from caucus members by suggesting that, if he survived, he would be willing to change some of the policies he campaigned on a few months ago. He apparently thought that the problem with his weathervane political views was that he was not spinning quickly enough. Now he has spun himself right out to the curb.
No, O’Toole forgot that he was a Conservative, capital “C.” That means in Canada being the opposition party, or at least it has meant that in the century since William Lyon Mackenzie King was elected in 1921. The Liberals remained effectively in power until 1957, with the exception of their wise decision to allow Conservative R.B. Bennett to hold office 1930-35 and take responsibility for the Great Depression. Since then there have been only four Conservative majorities split between Diefenbaker, Mulroney and Harper.
Conservatives in Canada start from a losing position and have the painstaking task of convincing a cohort here, seducing a segment there, slicing an unexpected sliver off the opponent in order to govern. All of that creative addition requires not subtracting from those already loyal. O’Toole’s approach was to attract minimal new voters by first maximally annoying his existing voters. In politics, as in life, it is hard to attract new friends if you treat your existing friends so shabbily.
Second, parliamentary democracy, for the first time in ages, is stronger in Canada. An actual parliamentary caucus, operating by the rules of Michael Chong’s Reform Act, flexed its muscles and exercised something of the power that the Westminster system reposes in them. MPs have been called “trained seals” for as long as I have followed politics, which was a kind enough term for what were actually court eunuchs, minus the influence of courtiers. The eunuchs have risen up and the king has been deposed. O’Toole’s defenestration is a most welcome reminder that party leaders are not kings.
There will be laments that the MPs have usurped the democratic rights of the Conservative party members, as if the fiendishly complex process by which they elect leaders is somehow sacrosanct. Usurpation it is not, but even if it was, it is a bargain price to pay for MPs finally sipping the magic elixir of a veritably meaningful vote, freely cast and of great consequence. They might even get a taste for such authority. Very late in the day the rallying cry of the aged Diefenbaker might resound, that “Parliament might live again!”
Thirdly, the Conservative party can free itself from a leader who seemed to think that the conservatism was not a becoming thing for Conservatives to propose.
The weirdest moment of the last election campaign was surely the party platform released to look like a Men’s Health magazine, with a buff O’Toole on the cover looking for all the world that he was ready to go full Tofino. I took a pass, and so did voters. They already had an accomplished surfer in office.
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