Conservatives divided on fate of O'Toole, as party's MPs call for unity
The Conservative Party is facing internal strife as some insiders want to see Erin O鈥橳oole ousted as leader, while newly elected MPs hope for some semblance of unity.
After failing to dethrone the Liberals and pick up more seats this federal election, O鈥橳oole must shift from fighting for Justin Trudeau鈥檚 job to fighting for his own.
However, Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel Garner says she and her colleagues headed back to Ottawa are focused squarely on their role as opposition.
鈥淲e have 120-some members of Parliament that are going back to Ottawa to deal with major issues. Parliament needs to get back to work,鈥 she said during an interview on CTV鈥檚 Question Period airing Sunday.
Rempel Garner added that she welcomes an election campaign review, and said the party can both look back at what went wrong and also look to the future in terms of how they want to shape policy going forward.
鈥淲e can do both as a party. We can have this review, we can address some of these concerns and we can also make sure that Canadians see a stable opposition party that is providing, you know, a clear alternatives to the Liberals,鈥 she said.
Last week, Bert Chen, the Ontario representative on the Conservative Party鈥檚 national council, launched an online calling on the party to convene a referendum on O鈥橳oole鈥檚 leadership.
The petition has garnered more than 2,700 signatures as of Friday at 5:45 PM EDT but it鈥檚 open to all Canadians, of all party stripes.
Party president Robert Batherson responded to the petition on 麻豆影视 Channel鈥檚 Power Play earlier this week.
鈥淗e never informed me or any of his colleagues that he was going to launch this petition, so we鈥檙e all kind of scratching our heads as to what is Mr. Chen鈥檚 agenda in leading this charge and putting this petition out there,鈥 he said.
鈥淭he important thing is to take a step back and to listen to concerns from grassroots members, to ask the tough questions鈥ut we do it through conversation, engagement, respect and professionalism.鈥
During another interview on 麻豆影视 Channel鈥檚 Power Play, Chen said he鈥檚 heard from members disappointed with O鈥橳oole鈥檚 shift away from what he promised during his leadership campaign.
鈥淓rin has broken the trust of members by changing his position so drastically from when he was elected by the membership more than a year ago to lead this party,鈥 he said.
Chen added that O鈥橳oole鈥檚 foreign policy rhetoric on China was 鈥渂elligerent鈥 and made him and other Chinese-Canadians 鈥渦ncomfortable.鈥
鈥淎ny federal riding that has a sizeable Chinese-Canadian population 鈥 it would have been extremely difficult for those voters to elect a Conservative with the rhetoric Erin O鈥橳oole was using,鈥 he said.
Rempel Garner said she will support O鈥橳oole as leader going forward.
She鈥檚 not alone. Other re-elected MPs including and have congratulated O鈥橳oole on a hard fought campaign and say they look forward to working with him.
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