Erin O’Toole is selling a plan he seems to understand back to front. And that is distressingly rare in Canadian politics
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole used an interesting word this week, at least twice, while answering questions from reporters. The word was “yes.” It’s a simple word, but Canadian politicians will often turn rhetorical cartwheels to avoid using it (or its cousin, “no”). When a reporter concludes a question with “yes or no?” it’s a near-guarantee the response won’t contain either, let alone begin with it.
O’Toole has been asked repeatedly this week whether his support for a woman’s right to choose an abortion conflicts with his platform pledge to “protect the conscience rights of healthcare professionals.” His reasonable response: a “balanced approach” can accommodate both at the same time. Canadian society balances all kinds of competing rights every day.
On Friday in a very wet Winnipeg, though, he was asked directly whether a doctor with a conscientious objection to abortion would have to refer a woman to someone else willing to consult or perform it. “Yes,” O’Toole said, “they will have to refer, because the right to those services exists across the country.”
Crystal clear.
Twice earlier in the week, O’Toole was asked if he would be willing as prime minister to accept more than the 20,000 Afghan refugees the government has committed to resettling. Twice O’Toole said he really didn’t care about the number, but rather the people and their plights. It was a good answer. If Canada were as generous and welcoming to refugees as it likes to claim, it might not set quotas in the first place.
But journalists like to nail down numbers, and on the third try O’Toole obliged: “Yes,” he would admit more than the 20,000.
Clarity is by no means absolute on this campaign. The 20,000 Afghan refugees figure seems to have gotten mixed up with the issue of interpreters and others who worked with Canadian troops, diplomats and aid workers who are actually in Afghanistan right now. (The 20,000 will somehow have to make their own way out of the country.) When O’Toole said he doesn’t care how many come to Canada, he seemed to be referring specifically to the Afghans who worked with Canadians.
On Friday, a reporter noted that O’Toole’s leadership platform promised to protect “the conscience rights of all health-care professionals whose beliefs, religious or otherwise, prevent them from carrying out or referring patients for services that violate their conscience.” Asked why his position had changed, he said it hadn’t. It clearly has.
No one expects leadership platforms to become campaign platforms in their entirety, or even in large part. Where O’Toole has changed his mind, he should explain why. He would look all the more credible for it. To take one example: His leadership campaign proposed to sell off CBC’s English-language television operations within the first term of government. Now he proposes a wholesale mandate review — long overdue, and a strong position. I think I know why he did that, but he hasn’t offered inquiring reporters an explanation.
O’Toole isn’t a political colossus or a world-class orator. There’s plenty of chaff to go with the wheat
To be clear, O’Toole isn’t a political colossus or a world-class orator. There’s plenty of chaff to go with the wheat. But he has strong basic communications skills, which he is putting to use selling a plan that he seems to understand, believe in and know back to front. And that’s just distressingly rare in Canadian politics. God knows Andrew Scheer doesn’t have it: He met tough questions on abortion and same-sex marriage with the same verbatim sound bites every day, delivered with all the confidence of a deer caught in the headlights of an 18-wheeler.
O’Toole’s style also offers a useful contrast to Justin Trudeau’s, especially as Trudeau encounters more scrutiny than ever on the campaign trail. If you just listen to the cadences, Trudeau can sound articulate; but if you actually try to parse his words, they often crumble into dust. When it comes to not answering questions, Trudeau takes a back seat to no politician.
I know (Trudeau) cares, but he never acts
Erin O’Toole
Policy aside, the tone of the campaign O’Toole is running is precisely what the Tories have been looking for since Stephen Harper quit. Many in the party are consumed with various grievance complexes, as if they can never get a fair shake — not from the media, not from government bureaucracy, not from the courts, not from voters. It doesn’t matter if the grievances are justified; it creates a negative cycle. Smother reporters with nonsense day after day after day, and you’re very likely to get negative headlines no matter what you’re doing. O’Toole carries no such chip on his shoulder.
Nor does O’Toole seem to loathe the prime minister in the same way many partisans do. Conservatives assume far more people detest Trudeau than actually do, just as Liberals assume far more people detest Harper than actually do. If that sentiment colours a campaign, it can turn off people who are on the fence.
“I know he cares,” O’Toole said Friday of Trudeau’s attempts at reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, “but he never acts.”
O’Toole doesn’t seem to be campaigning to liberate us from Justin Trudeau’s profligate tyranny, in other words, but simply to run a better government. It’s a refreshing change, and it’s the way forward for Conservatives no matter what happens Sept. 20.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Quebec wants to curb excessive tipping.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Armstrong scores, surging Vancouver Whitecaps beat slumping San Jose Earthquakes 2-0
As plant-based milk becomes more popular, brands look for new ways to compete
Labour Minister praises Air Canada, pilots union for avoiding disruptive strike
Nova Scotia premier repeats calls for Ottawa to pay for protecting Chignecto Isthmus
Emir of Qatar to visit Ottawa on what will be his first official trip to Canada
TIFF audience prizes for ‘Life of Chuck,’ Hip doc; Rankin among Canadian winners
Looking for the next mystery bestseller? This crime bookstore can solve the case
Inflation expected to ease to 2.1%, lowest level since March 2021: economists
