All eyes will be on Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and his caucus management in the early days of 2022, say some veteran Hill watchers, as parliamentarians ready themselves for the House’s return on January 31.
With no clear heir waiting in the wings, the heat is on for the captain to show his leadership chops after last fall’s election loss.
Speaking to Parliament Today, Conservative strategist Garry Keller, now with StrategyCorp, said a string of stories toward the tail end of 2021 highlighted that a “small number” of MPs remain unsupportive of O’Toole.
“I think the grand mass of caucus members are in a ‘show me’ state, of ‘OK, show me what you can do with your leadership,’” said Keller, a former aide to then-interim CPC leader Rona Ambrose.
Given existing fissures within the party on policy matters (like the carbon price and Quebec’s controversial Bill 21), Keller said MPs will be looking to O’Toole to show how he can “better engage caucus” in the process to develop a future platform, given he has signalled his intent to lead the Tories into another election.
He predicted MPs will allow O’Toole until about the summer break to hammer out the CPC’s “focus [and] communications,” while showing how he plans to refine its ground game to pick up more seats in the next campaign.
