About a third of Conservative MPs have signed a letter calling for leader Erin O’Toole to face a caucus leadership review, a party member says, meeting the threshold to begin a process that could come later this week.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said he was among the group of MPs to sign the letter calling for the review, and that about a third of the caucus has also signed it.
“O’Toole should recognize that his position is untenable, rather than using lies to publicly attack members of his own team,” Genuis wrote in the statement.
In a news release, Conservative MP Bob Benzen stated that he is also among the group calling for the review, and accused O’Toole of supporting legislation that the party does agree on, including a “de-facto carbon tax policy,” and a “failure to clearly stand up for the Charter rights of Canadians during the pandemic.”
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“I feel that the Conservative caucus has given Mr. O’Toole more than enough chances for a course correction to resolve the concerns of many of the grassroots members of our party,” Benzen said in the release.
“In consideration of Mr. O’Toole’s record as Leader, I believe a caucus leadership review is the only way to avoid a dangerous split in the Conservative Party that may not be repairable.”
Following an in-person meeting in October following the 2021 election, the Conservative caucus gave themselves the power to trigger a leadership review if 20 per cent of the caucus signed a formal agreement. It would need a majority vote afterwards to remove O’Toole as leader.
At the time, O’Toole said he did not feel threatened by the move.
“This is not about a Sword of Damocles hanging over my head. We’rexjmtzyw united as a team. This is about having a fair and transparent process that a team must have when it respects one another,” he told reporters on Oct. 5.
The Conservatives won 119 seats in the 2021 election, a drop of two from 2019.
Last week, a report highlighting the party’s missteps in the 2021 election found that O’Toole’s choice to communicate with voters from a TV station was “too scripted” and he should’ve been doing more in-person events.
A source with knowledge of the review also told CTV News that the need to recruit more diverse candidates was also among the priorities.
Very sad to see @erinotoole launching more false personal attacks against members of his own team. Statement below. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/wxI5xWMPap
— Garnett Genuis (@GarnettGenuis) February 1, 2022
Today, I am calling for a caucus review of Erin O’Toole’s leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. See my full statement below. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/U8ssOMLfl8
— Bob Benzen ���� (@BobBenzen) February 1, 2022
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Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole speaks during a media availability in West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
