The Conservative Party’s Leadership Election Organizing Committee suspended the race to replace Andrew Scheer on March 26, shelving the June 27 vote and promising to reassess on May 1, CBC News reported. The pause gives members time to read what the four remaining candidates have actually proposed. On the record so far, Erin O’Toole’s campaign has published the more serious platform, with clearer explanations of what his Conservative Party would do. Peter MacKay lists specific commitments, but many of his policies are little more than slogans with nothing behind them.
That verdict concerns the documents on each campaign’s website, captured in early March, and the gaps in them. It does not predict a result, and it does not cover Leslyn Lewis or Derek Sloan in any depth, because we found no full platform from either campaign in the period.
The field
The party’s leadership rules opened entry applications on Jan. 13 and closed them on Feb. 27. A verified candidate then had until 5 p.m. ET on March 25 to file complete materials, including 3,000 member signatures, a $200,000 registration fee and a $100,000 compliance deposit. Those terms set a high bar for a field that had begun much larger.
Four candidates made the ballot: MacKay, O’Toole, Lewis and Sloan, the National Post reported on March 25. Marilyn Gladu and Rudy Husny were removed from the party’s website as candidates after failing to meet the entry requirements. Rick Peterson withdrew on March 20, after the party refused to extend the deadlines for fees and signatures. Gladu, Husny and Peterson had said it was “inappropriate” to ask for money or talk politics during the COVID-19 crisis, according to CBC.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizing committee cancelled the April debates and moved the membership sign-up deadline from April 17 to May 15, CBC News reported. It did so despite the arguments of MacKay, whom CBC described as the presumed frontrunner, that the race should continue.
The Liberal laws every candidate is running against
Two statutes sit at the centre of the energy debate in this race, and both are Liberal government decisions. Bill C-69, which enacted the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, received royal assent on June 21, 2019. Its Impact Assessment Act replaced the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012. Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, received royal assent the same day.
C-48 bars oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of crude or persistent oil from stopping or unloading at ports on British Columbia’s north coast. That closes a whole coastline to crude-carrying tankers by statute, which settles in law a question that a project review could otherwise have weighed case by case.
Peter MacKay: specific where it is easy
MacKay’s campaign sets out a series of short policy pages. “Peter MacKay would not allow Huawei to build any of Canada’s 5G network,” one page says. Another promises that he “will increase Canadian military and defence spending to meet the 2% of GDP targets set out by NATO.” A third pledge says that MacKay “will remove the limit on how much money you can withdraw from your RRSP to buy your first home” and “remove the requirement to pay it back,” according to his RRSP page.
The energy section fails that test. MacKay’s blockades page says that as prime minister he “would scrap these laws,” meaning C-69 and C-48. His carbon page says “Peter MacKay will end the carbon tax,” and its only alternative is a general aim to cut global emissions by exporting Canadian resources and clean technology.
The party-management planks are similar. MacKay promised that “every EDA gets their full Elections Canada reimbursement,” according to his riding association page. His October page called for “an election in October” and a motion of non-confidence “to defeat the minority Liberal government as soon as possible.” A promise to defeat a government is a tactic.
Erin O’Toole: more of the work shown
O’Toole’s campaign pages, captured on March 3 and 24, carry more detail per pledge. His CBC page proposes ending funding for CBC Digital, cutting funding for CBC English television and News Network by 50 per cent, and keeping CBC Radio and Radio-Canada. The same page sets a goal “to fully privatize CBC by the end of my first mandate.”
His response to the COVID-19 crisis is the clearest example of a candidate writing policy while the race was still running. O’Toole’s coronavirus page called for mandatory 14-day self-isolation for anyone entering Canada and no flights from Europe except for Canadians coming home. Those are measures a government could adopt or reject on their merits, and he published them before the party paused the contest.
His trade proposal is ambitious and specific about its partners. O’Toole proposed a CANZUK deal with the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand covering free trade and capital investment, the freedom to study, live and work, and closer defence co-operation. The page names the three countries and the terms sought, which gives a negotiator a mandate to work from.
The verdict
O’Toole’s platform is the more serious of the two that can be compared, because more of his proposals name a mechanism, a scale and a beneficiary. MacKay’s Huawei, NATO and RRSP pledges meet the same standard, while his energy, carbon and election planks are posture. Both candidates oppose the carbon tax without saying what emissions policy replaces it.
The suspension gives every campaign until at least May 1 before the committee reassesses the parameters of the race. Before then, MacKay should flesh out his platform, and O’Toole should repeat the clever policies from his 2017 leadership run.
Sources
- Conservative Party of Canada, Leadership Election Rules, January 2020: https://cpcassets.conservative.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/11202248/15affbc9396545c.pdf
- National Post, Brian Platt, “Four candidates will be on ballot in Conservative leadership race as final deadline passes,” March 25, 2020: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/four-candidates-will-be-on-ballot-in-conservative-leadership-race-as-final-deadline-passes
- CityNews / The Canadian Press, “Peterson slams party’s refusal to adjust leadership rules amid COVID-19 crisis,” March 20, 2020: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/03/20/peterson-slams-partys-refusal-to-adjust-leadership-rules-amid-covid-19-crisis/
- CBC News / The Canadian Press, “Conservative leadership committee suspends race amid COVID-19 crisis,” March 26, 2020: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/peter-mackay-race-must-go-on-1.5511825
- Peter MacKay campaign pages (Internet Archive captures, March 3 and 18, 2020): Huawei https://web.archive.org/web/20200303134327/https://petermackay.ca/en-CA/huawei ; NATO https://web.archive.org/web/20200303134336/https://petermackay.ca/en-CA/nato-otan ; blockades https://web.archive.org/web/20200303134322/https://petermackay.ca/en-CA/government-blockades-blocus-gouvernement ; carbon tax https://web.archive.org/web/20200303134342/https://petermackay.ca/en-CA/no-carbon-tax-taxe-carbone ; RRSP https://web.archive.org/web/20200318145255/https://petermackay.ca/en-CA/rrsp-reer ; EDA https://web.archive.org/web/20200303134310/https://petermackay.ca/en-CA/eda-ace ; October https://web.archive.org/web/20200303134347/https://petermackay.ca/en-CA/october-octobre
- Erin O’Toole campaign pages (Internet Archive captures, March 3 and 24, 2020): coronavirus https://web.archive.org/web/20200324153823/https://erinotoole.ca/coronavirus/ ; CBC https://web.archive.org/web/20200324154720/https://erinotoole.ca/defundcbc/ ; CANZUK https://web.archive.org/web/20200303142914/https://erinotoole.ca/canzuk/ ; carbon tax https://web.archive.org/web/20200303143120/https://erinotoole.ca/carbontax/ ; firearms https://web.archive.org/web/20200324155032/https://erinotoole.ca/firearms/
- Marilyn Gladu campaign, Policies (Internet Archive capture, March 24, 2020): https://web.archive.org/web/20200324153326/https://www.marilyngladu.ca/policies
- Statutes of Canada 2019, c. 28 (Bill C-69): https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/AnnualStatutes/2019_28/FullText.html
- Statutes of Canada 2019, c. 26, Oil Tanker Moratorium Act (Bill C-48): https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/annualstatutes/2019_26/FullText.html
- Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, news release, June 21, 2019: https://www.canada.ca/en/impact-assessment-agency/news/2019/06/better-rules-for-major-projects-become-law-in-canada-canadas-new-approach-to-impact-assessments-is-designed-to-protect-the-environment-and-grow-the.html
- Transport Canada, news release, June 21, 2019: https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2019/06/the-oil-tanker-moratorium-act-receives-royal-assent.html
