Tory brand with racialized communities still hurt by divisive 2015 campaign: MP

The Conservative MP leading outreach efforts for leader Erin O'Toole says a six-year-old promise to create a 'barbaric cultural practices' hotline still hangs over the party's attempts to rebuild relationships with racialized communities today.

"It's there," Tim Uppal says. "It is there."

Uppal served as the minister of state for multiculturalism in Stephen Harper's Conservative government when it entered the 2015 federal election campaign.

The party positioned itself as the defender of 'Canadian values' throughout the race by promising measures like establishing a tip line for so-called 'barbaric cultural practices."

Before the election, Harper spent his final months pushing culturally divisive policies. Those included a bill banning face coverings from being worn during citizenship ceremonies, a measure Uppal promoted.