Former leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Erin O’Toole announced Friday that he plans to step down from his seat in the House of Commons at the end of the spring session in June.
The Ontario MP led the Conservatives and was leader of the official opposition from August 2020 until February 2022, when a majority of his caucus voted to remove him from office.
“I am a proud Conservative and have had the unique privilege of leading our party through a difficult time for our country,” he wrote in a statement shared on social media Friday morning. The Conservative Party is the Party of Confederation and I know it will return to government with the hope and ideas our country desperately needs. »
His ousting last year followed several months of tension over his caucus management and his attempts to refocus the party’s image. Some activists said the new leader was flip-flopping on key conservative positions, including carbon pricing and gun control.
The ultimate slingshot came when Freedom Convoy protesters occupied downtown Ottawa to denounce COVID-19 health restrictions, many of them waving flags filled with profanity criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — actions that Mr. O’Toole deplored in a blog post at the end of 2022.
In the same commentary, he warned of the growing polarization of politics in Canada and suggested that symbols like the anti-Trudeau flags were “slowly normalizing the rage and degrading our democracy.”
Aside from his numerous comments on social media, the former Conservative leader has kept a rather low profile on Parliament Hill.
In subsequent interviews, the MP for Durham spoke of the difficulties of leading the party during the worst time of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also in the face of alleged Chinese election interference, which, according to the party, targeted several constituencies held by conservatives — since Mr. O’Toole had taken a hard line against Beijing.
The former military aviator was first elected in a 2012 by-election. He served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade and then Minister of Veterans Affairs during the final year of Stephen Harper’s government, before the Conservatives lose power in 2015.
Mr O’Toole then tried his hand at the leadership for the first time in the very crowded 2017 race to replace Mr Harper. He finished third, behind Maxime Bernier and Andrew Scheer, who was elected. Mr O’Toole successfully ran for a second time in 2020, beating his main challenger, former minister Peter MacKay.
“I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to advance issues that I believe are critically important to our country — ranging from veterans’ mental health to military readiness, energy nuclear power, Arctic sovereignty and a range of other important issues, O’Toole wrote on Friday. I will continue to advance these interests and serve my constituents until the end of this session. »
Fellow Tories Scott Aitchison and Michelle Rempel Garner took to social media to wish Mr O’Toole, his wife and two children well.
Mr O’Toole writes on Friday that he first broke the news in his Durham constituency, during a speech to the local Chamber of Commerce.