Tory leadership candidates pitch their ability to win the next election in English debate
The first and only English-language debate in the Conservative leadership race kicked off Thursday night with each candidate pitching their ability to grow the party and win the next election.
The two frontrunners, Erin O’Toole and Peter MacKay, each put their emphasis in a different area. For O’Toole, it’s about winning in the suburbs, a crucial swing region the party largely failed in during the last two elections. For MacKay, it’s about his history of founding the modern party and bringing conservative factions together with Stephen Harper.
O’Toole repeatedly cited the fact he’s won his Greater Toronto Area riding three elections in a row.
“We need a principled leader who will unite our party by respecting all conservatives, a leader who can show more urban and suburban Canadians that their values of liberty, family and equality are at the core of our party,” O’Toole said.
He accused MacKay of dividing the party, a likely reference to the “stinking albatross” comment MacKay made about social conservative issues in the fall, and which MacKay has since said he regretted.
“I’ve only focused on bringing conservatives together,” MacKay fired back. “That’s what I’ve done since my earliest days back in in 1997, when I first left the prosecutor’s office to join the Conservative Party in that election. I’ve worked with Stephen Harper, I’ve worked with social conservatives, fiscal conservatives across the spectrum.”
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MacKay also touted the fact he has more endorsements from the party’s caucus than O’Toole. “We need a leader who attacks liberals, not conservatives,” he said. “I will unite the party as I did before with Stephen Harper.”
Leslyn Lewis and Derek Sloan, meanwhile, showcased their much different approaches despite both being backed by social conservative groups. While Sloan hit a hard-right message in his opening statement, Lewis had a much more optimistic tone.
“I will never compromise on conservative values, I will never sell out Canada and I will always put Canadians first,” Sloan said. “I will never give an inch to political correctness. I won’t cede an ounce of our sovereignty to international organizations.” He promised to end Canada’s funding of the World Health Organization and to pull Canada out of the Paris climate agreement.
“I am the right leader with the right policies at the right time,” Lewis said. “I am the leader that can withstand the liberal attacks and the lies about who we are as Canadians. We are good people. To win the next election, we are going to need somebody to lead with courage, compassion and common sense.”
The opening few rounds of the debate had a much lower temperature than the French-language debate the previous night, where Mackay and O’Toole furiously attacked each other at every opportunity.
One reason is likely that Sloan and Lewis played a bigger role in the exchanges on Thursday night. Both are still learning French and were largely reduced to the sidelines in Wednesday’s edition.
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