If members of Parliament do not avoid the dangers of “performance politics” and chasing “likes” on social media, future Canadians will look back on the current moment as the start of the country’s decline, Erin O’Toole warned Monday.
The former Conservative leader and Ontario MP used his last address to the House of Commons to issue a call to colleagues to focus on what he said should be figuring out the country’s national purpose.
Instead of debating that he said, “too many of us are often chasing algorithms down a sinkhole of diversion and division.”
“We are becoming elected officials who judge our self-worth by how many ‘likes’ we get on social media, but now not how many lives we change in the real world.”
“Performance politics is fuelling polarization. Virtue-signalling is replacing discussion and far too often we’re just using this Chamber to generate clips, not to start national debates.”
O’Toole is retiring from federal politics at the end of the month after first being elected in a byelection in 2012. From there, the lawyer and former Royal Canadian Air Force member served as parliamentary secretary to Ed Fast, then-trade minister in the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper.
Before the Conservatives lost government in 2015, O’Toole was appointed to serve as minister for veterans affairs at a troubling time for the portfolio, as the country was adjusting to the return of soldiers who fought in Afghanistan.
After the Tories lost power, O’Toole set his sights on leadership of the party, placing third in its 2017 leadership contest to replace Harper. He ultimately won its 2020 race, but was faced with leading it through the height of COVID-19-related lockdowns.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — whom the party elected after its MPs voted O’Toole out in early 2022 following months of internal strife and losing the 2021 federal election — told the Commons on Monday that O’Toole “remains a statesman in our party” and thanked him for his public service.
That 2021 loss has recently been at the front of many Conservatives’ minds, as O’Toole recently revealed to MPs that he was briefed by the country’s spy agency on how he was a target of Chinese interference during the campaign.
Conservatives first began raising concerns during the race when they saw what they characterized as misinformation being spread about the party. O’Toole has since expressed disappointment with what he says is inaction by the Liberal government, calling for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to trigger a public inquiry.
He has said he accepts the outcome of of the election.
Since being ousted by his caucus, O’Toole has kept a low profile in Parliament save for some of his writings. In late December 2022, he penned a post saying he wished the coming year would bring with it more civilized political rhetoric, specifically calling out the expletive-laden flags about Trudeau, which became one of the most memorable images of the 2022 “Freedom Convoy.”
It was after the hundreds of vehicles and thousands of protesters decrying Trudeau’s government and COVID-19 restrictions rolled into Ottawa that O’Toole’s caucus removed him as leader. The move came after O’Toole struggled to satisfy the party with his position on vaccine mandates, and was accused of flip-flopping on key Conservative policies from the carbon tax to firearms.
On Monday, O’Toole reflected on the divisiveness of the last federal election and how social media is shaping the country’s politics for the worse, telling MPs, “social media did not build this great country, but it is starting to tear its democracy down.”
He cautioned that if Parliament is not careful there will be a future generation of voters who have not heard a viewpoint different than their own.
“Today, too often, we’re allowing conspiracy theories about the UN or the World Economic Forum go unchallenged,” O’Toole said.
“We’re becoming followers of our followers whenweshould be leaders.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2023
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.
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.
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.
