Sep 20 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — The Erin O’Toole campaign would consider it a win if they can hold the Liberals to a minority government in today’s federal election. Whether the Conservative caucus, party activists — and potential leadership hopefuls — will agree with that is an open question. In the final hours of Canada’s 44th federal election, O’Toole’s campaign chair […]
Sep 6 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — The Conservatives plan to spend more than $100 billion over the next decade while maintaining they can balance the federal books without cuts, a Star analysis has found. Direct spending promises in the Conservative platform total $103.6 billion over the next 10 years, excluding tax measures and other promises without price tags. The Conservative campaign […]
Aug 22 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — Amid falling poll numbers and a first week of campaigning widely seen as rocky, the Liberal campaign insists it’s on the right track. The campaign will look to keep pushing out policy in the coming days they believe will present clear contrasts with their challengers, with one campaign source saying the party will stay on […]
Aug 17 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — Despite dire predictions by some party insiders, the Conservative campaign believes it has dodged an attempt by the Liberals to use the issue of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations as a political wedge. If they’re right, Erin O’Toole can take a small breath of relief that his “balanced” stance on vaccination requirements for federal workers and Canadian […]
Aug 15 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Welland Tribune — If you’ve ever thought about running for the Conservative Party of Canada, there’s no time like the present. The party is canvassing supporters on the eve of an expected election call to fill the gaps in its slate of 338 candidates across the country. In an email from Conservative HQ sent Friday afternoon, the party […]
Aug 11 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — The federal Liberals are expected to tap entrepreneur Kevin Vuong to carry the party’s banner in Spadina—Fort York, the Star has learned. The downtown Toronto riding was left without a Liberal candidate after incumbent Adam Vaughan’s surprise announcement this week that he would not seek re-election after almost seven years in Ottawa. A relative newcomer […]
Jul 30 2021 — Alex Boutilier — St. Catharines Standard — Driving along the coast in Cape Breton, you could be forgiven for not realizing there’s a provincial election campaign going on. Few political lawn signs mar the yards along rural roads, bordered by forest on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Aside from brief news clips between classic rock playlists or country […]
Jul 24 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is facing questions from within his own party over allowing his deputy chief of staff to help social conservative candidates secure party nominations. The Star reported Thursday that Steve Outhouse, O’Toole’s deputy chief of staff, has been paid by nine people seeking nominations to assist their campaigns. The majority of those […]
Jul 23 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — Erin O’Toole’s second-most senior staffer is personally involved with helping social conservative candidates secure party nominations, the Star has learned. Four conservative sources told the Star that Steve Outhouse, a longtime Conservative operative and deputy chief of staff in O’Toole’s office, is moonlighting as a consultant on multiple nomination campaigns across the country. The majority […]
May 10 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — Peter Kent is pretty sure he knows why the Conservatives failed to win GTA seats in the 2019 election. Two words: Doug Ford. “We might have won that election but for Doug Ford’s disastrous first year,” the former cabinet minister and retiring Thornhill MP told the Star in an interview this week.
Apr 18 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — Despite his public denials, Erin O’Toole knows he’s proposing a carbon tax. The senior staff around him know he’s proposing a carbon tax. The MPs in his caucus know he’s proposing a carbon tax. And the Conservative base knows he’s proposing a carbon tax. They say this openly, albeit in conversations where they insist they […]
Apr 9 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — The Conservatives warn new federal spending in the Liberals’ upcoming budget will “undermine” Canada’s future prosperity and make the country’s debt unmanageable. At the same time, the Conservatives are promising new permanent federal spending they consider necessary to help the country recover after the COVID-19 crisis.
Mar 31 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — Erin O’Toole’s path to power still runs through Ontario, but while his Conservative party is seeing promising signs in rural ridings, its fortunes in the GTA are less clear. The Conservatives are being more “realistic” about picking up seats in GTA battleground ridings in the next election after the party’s disappointing 2019 showing in the […]
Mar 28 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — Erin O’Toole’s team was caught flat-footed last week when a debate over climate change threatened to torpedo the Conservative leader’s own call for change. By then, it was too late. In what was seen as an embarrassing setback for their new leader, delegates at the party’s virtual policy convention voted down a resolution recognizing that […]
Mar 21 2021 — Alex Boutilier — Toronto Star — As Conservative leader Erin O’Toole pitched his party on moving in a new direction, delegates at the party’s virtual policy convention voted to roll the clock back on some key issues. Delegates voted against a policy proposal that would have the party officially recognize “climate change is real,” and that the Conservatives are willing to […]