OTTAWA-
When three Conservative leadership candidates met last week for a debate, the same word kept repeating itself.
Unity. Or more precisely, the need.
In a contest widely seen as a battle for the soul of the party, which has exposed decades-old fissures between the groups that make up its very coalition, what would it take to achieve unity after the results were revealed September 10?
As this question lingers, many in the party and beyond are bracing for a scenario in which Pierre Poilievre wins.
Much of that thinking is based on the MP’s longstanding popularity with the existing base, coupled with his ability to draw large crowds and sell what his campaign claims to have been more than 300,000 memberships.
But after winning comes the challenge of leading.
“Somebody has to think about the morning after,” said Garry Keller, former chief of staff to Rona Ambrose, who served as the party’s acting leader after the government lost in 2015.
Of the other 118 caucus members, a whopping 62 backed Poilievre. That compares to the party leadership race in 2020, when the caucus was more evenly split between Peter MacKay and eventual winner Erin O’Toole.
O’Toole’s inability to manage the caucus after losing the 2021 election to the Liberals ultimately led to his downfall. He was kicked out by a vote of his MPs under the provisions of the Reform Act, measures which will remain in place for the next leader.
Poilievre said his “freedom” campaign message was a big unifier among conservatives. However, Keller said if some caucus members think that means they can say whatever they want on social media, they shouldn’t.
“I think people will just be weary of that notion.”
Poilievre and his supporters have been accused throughout the race of sowing disunity within the party by launching personal attacks on rivals, including former Quebec premier Jean Charest.
More recently, MPs backing Poilievre — along with Scott Aitchison, a rural Ontario representative and fellow leadership contender — questioned whether Charest, who has spent the past 20 years outside federal politics, was considering to stay in the party after the race is over.
Longtime BC MP Ed Fast, Charest’s campaign co-chair, tweeted “purity testing must stopand warned party members that when conservatives are divided, liberals win.
Fast himself stepped down as finance critic after criticizing Poilievre’s vow to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada, which ruffled some feathers within the caucus.
“It is a sad situation that Jean Charest, a patriot and champion of Canadian unity, continues to have his loyalties questioned by party members who seek to stir up division,” said Michelle Coates Mather, door- word of his campaign.
“What is the endgame here exactly? Losing the next federal election by alienating Conservative MPs who support Charest? Seems like a bad strategy for a party looking to broaden its base and win a federal election.”
While Poilievre enjoys majority support in the party caucus, most of the party’s 10 Quebec MPs support Charest, opening the question of what happens next if he does not succeed.
Asked recently about this possibility, MP Alain Rayes, who is organizing Charest’s campaign, said he was confident in the former premier of Quebec’s chances, saying the party does not need a “policy of American-style division.
“I am deeply convinced that our members will make the right choice,” he said in a statement.
Center Ice Conservatives, a center-right advocacy group formed during the leadership race, argues the party has room to grow if it leaves the margins and focuses on issues that matter in the mainstream .
Manager Michael Stuart says Charest and Poilievre have policies that speak to centrists, and what they’re hearing from their group’s supporters is a desire to focus more on ‘table issues’, like economic growth. and jobs.
“There’s a lot of distraction with the noise around the vaccines and the convoy and that sort of thing.”
Not only did Poilievre support the “Freedom Convoy,” but he used his “freedom” message to campaign on the anger and frustration people felt over government-imposed COVID-19 rules, like the death warrants. vaccines and masks.
How he will deal with social conservatives also remains an open question.
Poilievre pledged that no government he leads would introduce or pass legislation restricting access to abortion.
Jack Fonseca, director of political operations for the anti-abortion group Campaign Life Coalition, said many of those who strongly oppose vaccination mandates also share values with social conservatives.
“They are largely pro-freedom, pro-family, and yes, even pro-life and pro-faith,” he said.
Social conservatives have traditionally been a well-mobilized part of the party’s base in leadership races and have helped secure victories for O’Toole and former leader Andrew Scheer, who is now helping Poilievre in the race.
While Fonseca and other anti-abortion groups are encouraging members to choose social conservative candidate Leslyn Lewis as their first choice, he said the “freedom conservatives” recruited by Poilievre would expect results.
That includes giving Lewis a critic role, he said.
“He will be forced to face this reality and make political commitments to the freedom conservatives and social conservatives who are his base.”
‘If you don’t, the danger is that you’ll become an about-face like Erin O’Toole,’ he said, referring to the rollbacks the former leader has made on promises after winning leadership.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 7, 2022.