Erin O'Toole says he has enough Conservative caucus support to stay on as leader
CBC
Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said today he believes he has enough support from his party's MPs to stay on as leader if he's forced to go through a caucus leadership review.
Three weeks after losing the election to the incumbent Liberals, Conservative MPs gathered in Ottawa today for a caucus meeting to discuss the disappointing result — and vote on a series of measures that could give MPs the power to fire O'Toole and launch another leadership race to replace him.
While there has been grumbling in Conservative circles over O'Toole's performance during the campaign — at least one caucus member told CBC News that they want to see him resign — the leader said today he thinks he has enough support to hang on and lead the party through another election.
"Yes I do," O'Toole said when asked if he has the backing of most MPs.
"I've spoken to most of the caucus. We're all disappointed — no one more so than me — but we need to make sure we build on the gains we have made, learn from where we fell short. That's what any team, any family does when you have a disappointment, you learn from it and you come together and that's what this meeting will do today."
O'Toole said his focus will be on holding Trudeau to account and preparing the party for another election, which could come at any time in a minority Parliament. "We have to be ready to run again," he said.
"I think Mr. Trudeau has already let Canadians down again in his first 10 days," O'Toole said, referring to Trudeau's beach vacation in Tofino, B.C. on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. "He has more lessons to learn than we do."
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