Juno News - Erin O'Toole wins Conservative leadership

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's most irreverent talk show. This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.880 Coming up, Aaron O'Toole is the new Conservative Party of Canada leader. How does it happen? What does it mean? And where does the party go from here?

00:00:22.620 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:26.060 Hello and welcome to another edition of the Andrew Lawton Show, Canada's most irreverent talk show here on True North, the first day of Aaron O'Toole's leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:00:42.000 It is Monday, August 24th, conveniently the same day that I wrapped up the last show because I was doing, alongside my friend and colleague Candice Malcolm, the True North Live Conservative Leadership Results Show, which we thought would be over and done with on Sunday.

00:00:55.800 And ended up stretching into the ungodly hours of Monday morning.

00:01:00.300 But it is a big day, a big week for Conservative politics and by extension for Canadian politics.

00:01:06.560 So I want to get to some of the big stories. The big one, yes, Aaron O'Toole emerged victorious on the third ballot.

00:01:13.860 He won with a pretty decisive margin, although up until the votes were finally revealed,

00:01:19.880 which came after a delay that I'll get to in a little while.

00:01:24.640 I don't think many people knew just how decisive it was going to be.

00:01:29.720 And I had spoken ahead of the results show yesterday and actually during the show as well with Fred Delory, who was Aaron O'Toole's campaign manager.

00:01:37.660 And he was predicting an Aaron O'Toole win, but he was predicting a win on the third ballot.

00:01:42.640 So he, again, didn't think it was going to be some blowout on the first ballot or even the second ballot.

00:01:48.000 But what we saw was down ballot support from Derek Sloan went to Leslyn Lewis and Leslyn Lewis's support overwhelmingly went to Aaron O'Toole.

00:01:57.440 And that part of the story makes Leslyn Lewis not just a formidable candidate in her own right, but very much the kingmaker.

00:02:05.260 She delivered that victory to Aaron O'Toole, and I think that means that a message has been sent about her, about the values she's standing up for,

00:02:14.440 the values that Peter McKay called a stinking albatross around the neck of the conservative movement in Canada.

00:02:22.000 So that is the top-level story that I think emerged from the race.

00:02:26.700 And certainly everyone online, even a lot of people from the mainstream media, are lauding Leslyn Lewis for her campaign and lauding her campaign manager, Steve Outhouse,

00:02:36.360 who we've spoken to a number of times as well.

00:02:38.780 I want to talk about a couple of the aspects of this that came out.

00:02:42.140 But first, I want to share a section from Aaron O'Toole's acceptance speech, his victory speech, which was delivered after 1 a.m.

00:02:49.380 Like I said earlier, when all was said and done, it took a very long time.

00:02:53.140 And we started our show at 5.30 p.m. Eastern Time, and it was expected that we would have a little 30-minute window to do a pre-show,

00:03:01.900 and then the party would take over at 6, and then we'd do a little bit of a recap after.

00:03:06.680 And it ended up being where the joke was on us, because I signed off at, I believe, 1.40 a.m.

00:03:12.940 So it was 8 hours and 9 minutes, which I believe is the longest I've ever spoken uninterrupted.

00:03:18.720 My wife may say that I've spoken longer than that, or it feels like I speak longer than that.

00:03:23.660 But I believe that is an ultimate record for me for speaking.

00:03:26.620 With no commercial breaks, we had a few videos we could throw to, but it was Candace and I the whole way through,

00:03:31.720 right up until just a few hours ago, actually, as a matter of fact, because I'm recording this Monday morning.

00:03:37.620 But don't worry, I have the coffee. We are good to go.

00:03:40.060 But I want to share some of Aaron O'Toole's acceptance speech to give you a sense of the tone that he's charting,

00:03:46.920 because he was running as a true blue conservative, but his acceptance speech was one that said he's trying to unite.

00:03:54.280 He is standing up for all of the values that he talked about in the leadership race,

00:03:58.240 but he is going to be winning support from everyone.

00:04:01.480 That was the goal. That was the message.

00:04:03.540 And there was something in that that I thought was very interesting. Let's roll that.

00:04:07.460 We need a leader who puts Canadians first and will stand up for Canada and our interests in a challenging world

00:04:14.480 where we've lost the respect of our friends and allies.

00:04:19.200 The world still needs more Canada. It just needs less Justin Trudeau.

00:04:25.560 Why should I be that leader?

00:04:28.080 Because I believe that whether you are black, white, brown, or from any race or creed,

00:04:33.240 whether you are LGBT or straight, whether you are an Indigenous Canadian,

00:04:38.580 or have joined the Canadian family three weeks ago or three generations ago,

00:04:44.160 whether you are doing well or barely getting by,

00:04:47.860 whether you worship on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, or not at all,

00:04:52.220 you are an important part of Canada,

00:04:54.920 and you have a home in the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:05:00.400 Maybe you have voted for a different party your whole life or have never voted at all.

00:05:06.260 Maybe you feel that as a union member, you should not vote for our party.

00:05:10.720 Maybe you feel let down repeatedly by politicians.

00:05:14.480 Maybe your family came to Canada for better, but you are still waiting for fair treatment.

00:05:19.940 Maybe you run a small business and work all day only to be called a tax cheat by your own government.

00:05:28.000 It is time for many Liberal and NDP voters to socially distance themselves from those out-of-touch parties.

00:05:36.720 It is time for more Canadians to look at the Conservative Party again.

00:05:41.620 I've already seen some cynics online say,

00:05:43.960 oh, he's already pivoting, he's already ignoring everything he talked about up until this point,

00:05:47.800 and I think it's too early to say that.

00:05:50.220 There were some very specific promises that O'Toole made that he can be kept to.

00:05:55.320 One of them, most notably for a lot of people in Canada's Conservative movement,

00:05:59.920 was his pledge to defund CBC.

00:06:03.460 Now, yeah, this is a red meat policy item for the base,

00:06:06.540 but it's also very easily demonstrated whether he's doing it or not.

00:06:10.760 So I'd like to see, is that going to be on the platform?

00:06:13.640 Can you guarantee that's going to be on the platform at the very first opportunity?

00:06:18.480 Other things he stood up for, like resisting cancel culture? 0.73

00:06:21.700 Well, we'll see very quickly if that is something he's living up to

00:06:25.340 by whether Conservative candidates are being disqualified,

00:06:28.780 by if he's standing up for free speech.

00:06:30.580 He stood up for independent press.

00:06:32.320 Is that going to continue?

00:06:34.200 So I think it's incumbent upon the Conservative movement

00:06:37.000 and independent journalists like yours truly

00:06:39.320 to continue to hold Aaron O'Toole to his leadership promises,

00:06:43.940 to the good ones anyway,

00:06:45.380 and to hold him to those commitments he made

00:06:48.680 so that it doesn't become tempting to do that pivot

00:06:51.660 between the leadership and the general election, as is so common.

00:06:56.280 So that's where my priority is,

00:06:59.460 and it's where a lot of other people's priorities are and need to be.

00:07:04.020 And this is not to say we're being critical of him

00:07:06.720 or distrustful or anything like that.

00:07:08.420 I think, generally speaking, a healthy skepticism or healthy cynicism

00:07:12.160 is appropriate when it comes to political promises.

00:07:15.820 I've had a lot of people ask me who I was backing,

00:07:18.400 and I can tell you, quite frankly, I wasn't backing anyone.

00:07:21.340 I've had candidates that I've liked

00:07:23.400 and candidates that, with one notable example,

00:07:26.420 I disliked only because they weren't making themselves available.

00:07:30.960 That was my only bugaboo with Peter McKay

00:07:33.080 was the resistance to social conservative voices in the party

00:07:36.840 and the fact that he just didn't want to talk.

00:07:39.040 He didn't want to do interviews.

00:07:40.140 He didn't want to do the independent press gallery debate.

00:07:42.700 He didn't want to make himself available

00:07:44.580 in a way that every other candidate was

00:07:47.180 to conservative audiences.

00:07:50.040 And I'm not claiming victory for Aaron O'Toole's win,

00:07:53.680 but I do think there is a dynamic shift in there

00:07:57.200 in why Derek Sloan, who, again, is a rookie MP, not well-known,

00:08:01.440 Leslyn Lewis, completely unknown before the leadership race,

00:08:05.120 and Aaron O'Toole, who ultimately won,

00:08:07.060 why they did so well, because we can see in their numbers

00:08:11.220 that they were tapping into the conservative base.

00:08:14.960 They were tapping into a conservative audience.

00:08:17.100 And all three of those candidates were unafraid

00:08:19.900 to do independent media interviews and availabilities.

00:08:24.080 They were speaking to True North.

00:08:25.520 They were speaking to Rebel.

00:08:26.580 They were speaking to Postmillennial.

00:08:27.980 They were speaking to all of these places.

00:08:30.360 And you can't expect that you're going to win over

00:08:32.720 broad-spectrum support from conservatives

00:08:34.980 if you aren't speaking on the platforms

00:08:37.960 that conservatives are tuning into.

00:08:41.040 I look at the numbers that we had in our live stream,

00:08:43.480 and I haven't seen the final total yet,

00:08:44.880 but we had tens of thousands of people

00:08:46.560 that were watching our broadcast.

00:08:48.620 And at some point, that was actually higher

00:08:50.420 than the ones who were watching

00:08:51.680 some of the mainstream media's online streams.

00:08:54.640 And I know they had people watching on TV

00:08:56.920 and stuff like that.

00:08:58.280 But for an independent startup

00:08:59.840 that doesn't have a $1.3 billion budget,

00:09:02.480 that's not getting any of the media bailout money,

00:09:04.980 to get that sort of audience, I think, is important

00:09:08.340 because it is a conservative-friendly zone.

00:09:12.760 And I don't say that because it's about

00:09:14.540 the Capital C Conservative Party,

00:09:16.280 but we're going to give the right a fair shake.

00:09:19.080 And we're doing this because, yeah,

00:09:20.940 I mean, I lean conservative.

00:09:21.980 I don't hide that at all.

00:09:22.980 I don't hide the bias.

00:09:25.300 But we are talking about the leadership race

00:09:27.700 in a context that matters to conservatives.

00:09:30.440 Look, I mean, CTV and CBC were having

00:09:32.480 like liberal and NDP people on

00:09:34.340 to talk about all the things

00:09:35.800 the conservatives need to do.

00:09:37.300 And I'm thinking, wait,

00:09:38.120 why on earth are we taking cues

00:09:39.840 from the opposition, from the opponents,

00:09:42.620 as to what a conservative is supposed to be?

00:09:46.000 And it's chasing that love

00:09:48.060 and chasing that affection

00:09:49.320 from the mainstream media,

00:09:50.700 from the left that has gotten conservatives

00:09:53.040 in trouble in the past

00:09:54.940 because you're never going to get it.

00:09:56.560 You're never going to win them over.

00:09:58.800 I want to talk for a few moments here

00:10:01.340 about Andrew Scheer,

00:10:02.580 who gave his farewell speech last night,

00:10:05.420 his last speech as leader

00:10:06.800 of the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:10:08.540 And there were some things

00:10:09.980 that he said in there that actually,

00:10:11.500 I think he was testing material

00:10:12.880 when I sat down and did my exit interview

00:10:14.700 with him a couple of weeks ago.

00:10:16.440 For example, he made one observation,

00:10:18.120 and I'm actually going to play the clip now

00:10:19.380 because I think he worded it better

00:10:20.500 in his speech last night,

00:10:22.160 where he talks about the fact

00:10:24.220 that people need to be given the choice

00:10:25.860 to choose small government

00:10:27.140 and given the choice to choose freedom.

00:10:29.180 And his thesis is that people

00:10:30.660 will always make that choice.

00:10:32.880 Let's roll that clip. 0.89

00:10:33.720 It may be tempting to use the government

00:10:35.560 to address the challenges society often faces,

00:10:38.840 but once invited inside,

00:10:40.740 the government is a terrible house guest.

00:10:43.300 It may feel good to vote in a party

00:10:45.020 that is going to overstep the limits of government

00:10:48.000 in order to do something you agree with.

00:10:50.860 However, that invitation is quickly used

00:10:52.740 to justify all sorts of actions

00:10:54.880 you might never have considered.

00:10:57.060 It is far better to keep government

00:10:59.160 within strictly defined limits

00:11:00.860 and leave the rest of society

00:11:02.800 to fulfill its proper role.

00:11:05.820 That is why Conservatives put their faith in people.

00:11:10.460 We know that there is more to society

00:11:12.200 than just government,

00:11:13.460 and that free people within a free market,

00:11:15.580 working hard and enjoying the fruits of their labor,

00:11:18.200 free to express themselves

00:11:20.180 and live their lives the way they want.

00:11:23.040 That is the recipe for success

00:11:25.580 every single place it's been tried.

00:11:29.740 When given a choice between societies

00:11:31.520 where governments control more

00:11:32.940 and more of their citizens' lives

00:11:34.860 and those where freedom and opportunity are protected,

00:11:38.280 people will always choose freedom.

00:11:40.080 After all, no one ever got shot

00:11:42.900 trying to jump the wall

00:11:44.040 to get into East Berlin

00:11:45.320 or paddle the raft to get to Cuba.

00:11:48.920 We don't even have to go back

00:11:50.040 into the past to see these examples.

00:11:52.440 We just need to look at the mess

00:11:53.640 happening right now in Venezuela

00:11:55.540 and all the tragedy that it is causing.

00:11:58.620 And I do think there's something in that

00:12:00.620 that yes, we can talk about

00:12:01.940 how we wish that we heard it

00:12:03.020 from Andrew Scheer in the election

00:12:04.300 and before that,

00:12:05.320 and I think that's all fair game.

00:12:06.700 But I share that with you

00:12:08.260 not to dwell in the past,

00:12:09.940 but to say that I really hope

00:12:11.660 that form of a narrative,

00:12:13.720 that form of rhetoric

00:12:14.620 is something that Aaron O'Toole can embrace,

00:12:17.920 is something that he will embrace.

00:12:19.480 And talk about, yes,

00:12:20.680 putting your positive conservative vision forward,

00:12:22.660 that's fine,

00:12:23.460 but understand what the conservative part is

00:12:26.260 of that conservative vision.

00:12:28.240 And that is the best advice

00:12:29.920 I can give to anyone.

00:12:31.080 You were elected by members

00:12:33.000 because you were the real conservative

00:12:35.840 or you were the most electable conservative

00:12:37.920 or you were the person

00:12:39.420 that they liked the most.

00:12:40.360 You never know completely

00:12:41.440 why people are voting.

00:12:43.120 But regardless,

00:12:44.160 you are now the leader

00:12:45.280 of the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:12:47.820 And if the leader

00:12:48.540 of the Conservative Party of Canada

00:12:50.080 ceases to stand up for conservatives

00:12:51.920 and conservative ideas,

00:12:53.560 the party ceases to be

00:12:54.960 a conservative party.

00:12:56.700 And it's that simple.

00:12:57.900 We don't need someone else

00:12:59.240 to go after the liberal votes

00:13:01.020 and the NDP votes

00:13:02.060 and the mainstream media intelligentsia.

00:13:03.900 We need someone

00:13:05.000 that's going to stand up

00:13:06.080 for free markets,

00:13:07.980 for free speech,

00:13:09.040 all of these things.

00:13:11.140 So that's what I hope.

00:13:12.500 And again,

00:13:13.020 a lot of this comes back

00:13:14.540 to independent media.

00:13:16.180 And I'm going to play

00:13:16.680 one more clip

00:13:17.540 from Andrew Scheer here.

00:13:18.900 This one is a little bit gratuitous.

00:13:21.000 I hope you'll forgive me,

00:13:22.300 but this is, I think,

00:13:23.500 an important one

00:13:24.200 and an important message,

00:13:25.340 not just because of the message itself,

00:13:27.120 but the response to it

00:13:28.640 from the mainstream media.

00:13:29.760 Let's roll that.

00:13:30.820 So it doesn't matter

00:13:31.500 what kind of conservative you are.

00:13:33.060 Our party needs all of you

00:13:35.040 and we need you to go out

00:13:36.600 and find more people

00:13:37.560 who share our beliefs.

00:13:40.140 Please stay involved.

00:13:41.440 Be bold.

00:13:42.220 Think.

00:13:43.080 Challenge the mainstream media.

00:13:44.660 Don't take their narrative as fact.

00:13:46.840 Check out smart,

00:13:48.440 independent,

00:13:49.040 objective organizations

00:13:50.300 that are growing all the time,

00:13:52.120 like the Post Millennial 0.98

00:13:53.040 or True North.

00:13:54.660 There are other places

00:13:55.500 to get information.

00:13:57.160 Let's stop being

00:13:58.080 the silent majority.

00:13:59.180 Hey, I agree with Andrew Scheer.

00:14:00.960 Stand up for independent media

00:14:02.100 and listen to

00:14:03.340 and watch True North.

00:14:05.100 This is great.

00:14:05.960 And the mainstream media

00:14:07.140 just lost their minds on this.

00:14:09.480 If you look at Twitter,

00:14:10.280 I don't even have time

00:14:11.240 to go through all of them,

00:14:12.600 but the mainstream media

00:14:13.860 just completely went crazy

00:14:16.580 over the assertion that,

00:14:18.380 hey, maybe they don't get

00:14:19.520 to have the monopoly

00:14:20.460 on communicating.

00:14:21.840 And this was something

00:14:22.880 that was just,

00:14:24.160 I thought,

00:14:24.560 entirely valid

00:14:25.520 that he was saying.

00:14:26.720 One person jumped on him

00:14:28.100 and said,

00:14:29.120 this was a Wall Street Journal

00:14:31.000 columnist or reporter

00:14:32.720 in Ottawa

00:14:33.220 had tweeted about it

00:14:34.960 and said,

00:14:36.240 oh, you know,

00:14:36.620 Andrew Scheer says

00:14:37.180 conservatives should watch

00:14:38.480 True North and Post Millennial.

00:14:40.700 And then Andrew Scheer

00:14:41.680 actually responded on Twitter,

00:14:43.220 as you can see,

00:14:44.400 and said,

00:14:44.820 no, no, no,

00:14:45.440 all Canadians need to.

00:14:47.020 So again,

00:14:47.720 thank you very much

00:14:48.380 for the plug, Andrew Scheer.

00:14:50.160 You had people like David Aiken

00:14:52.060 and Justin Ling

00:14:53.060 and all of these mainstream

00:14:54.120 reporters who,

00:14:55.680 in some cases,

00:14:56.280 and David Aiken,

00:14:57.480 I don't think,

00:14:57.840 is an ideologue,

00:14:58.740 but he's very snarky

00:15:01.740 and he's always been

00:15:02.340 very snarky

00:15:02.940 when it comes

00:15:03.440 to independent media.

00:15:05.060 Or Dale Smith,

00:15:06.100 who's in the

00:15:06.420 Parliamentary Press Gallery,

00:15:07.720 who posted some weird meme

00:15:09.340 when Andrew Scheer

00:15:10.640 said people should pay attention

00:15:11.920 to independent voices.

00:15:13.280 Again,

00:15:13.700 the Parliamentary Press Gallery

00:15:15.020 has proven to just not

00:15:16.860 like any competition

00:15:18.300 whatsoever.

00:15:19.000 They don't want anyone

00:15:19.700 playing in what they think

00:15:21.380 is their sandbox.

00:15:23.020 So the mainstream media's

00:15:24.660 response to this idea

00:15:26.800 is exactly why

00:15:28.680 the idea

00:15:29.260 has such merit

00:15:31.020 and weight

00:15:31.640 among conservatives.

00:15:33.960 Because

00:15:34.600 conservatives do not feel

00:15:36.480 like their voices

00:15:37.320 and their values

00:15:38.060 and their ideas

00:15:38.760 are adequately

00:15:39.760 or even

00:15:40.420 marginally

00:15:42.600 acknowledged

00:15:44.080 by the mainstream media.

00:15:45.520 But the mainstream media

00:15:46.200 still thinks that it gets

00:15:47.120 to be the gatekeeper

00:15:48.020 to truth.

00:15:48.940 So this is all something

00:15:50.120 that I think

00:15:50.740 is coming to a head

00:15:52.020 in the conservative movement

00:15:53.660 and something

00:15:55.120 that the next

00:15:55.660 conservative leader

00:15:56.520 and the team

00:15:57.020 they put around them

00:15:57.860 needs to be aware of.

00:16:00.480 So that's where

00:16:01.560 I think we're headed

00:16:02.780 with this

00:16:03.240 and I would like to see

00:16:04.340 absolutely more of this.

00:16:06.080 So this is where

00:16:07.320 I'm going to go into

00:16:08.680 a bit of the technical

00:16:09.480 side of things

00:16:10.240 now that we've started

00:16:10.940 with the broader aspects

00:16:12.020 because this was just

00:16:13.280 an absolute gong show

00:16:14.420 from the start.

00:16:15.100 As I mentioned earlier,

00:16:15.960 supposed to start

00:16:16.620 at 6pm

00:16:17.240 and ended up

00:16:18.520 having just a complete

00:16:20.040 delay after delay

00:16:21.080 and I was

00:16:23.640 very, I mean,

00:16:25.020 pleased to be doing

00:16:25.760 a live show

00:16:26.360 and had people watching

00:16:27.380 and we had, I think,

00:16:28.720 no fewer than, you know,

00:16:29.940 900 people watching

00:16:31.380 at any given time

00:16:32.120 on YouTube

00:16:32.580 plus more on Facebook.

00:16:34.340 It went on so long

00:16:35.820 that Facebook capped us

00:16:37.320 at 8 hours

00:16:38.280 and said,

00:16:38.640 oh no, you can't do

00:16:39.240 a live show longer

00:16:40.000 than 8 hours

00:16:40.660 which at that point

00:16:41.620 was just like sad

00:16:42.540 because it was a reminder

00:16:43.420 that we had been doing it

00:16:44.340 for 8 hours.

00:16:45.340 But we didn't end,

00:16:46.080 we just restarted

00:16:47.080 the Facebook stream

00:16:48.080 and carried on.

00:16:49.640 But what happened

00:16:51.060 that I thought

00:16:52.080 was interesting

00:16:52.740 is they had this

00:16:53.620 ballot counting error

00:16:55.280 where the ballot machines

00:16:56.700 were eating

00:16:57.900 some of the ballots

00:16:59.100 and as many as thousands

00:17:00.220 of these ballots

00:17:00.960 were destroyed

00:17:01.640 by the machine

00:17:03.280 which in retrospect

00:17:04.640 means they probably

00:17:06.140 shouldn't have put

00:17:06.620 Banksy in charge 0.96

00:17:07.740 of procuring the ballot machines

00:17:09.220 that could have been

00:17:10.180 entirely predicted

00:17:10.980 if you had really

00:17:11.900 looked too much into that.

00:17:13.600 And the other point

00:17:14.700 that I would raise

00:17:15.300 is that when a machine

00:17:16.420 starts just destroying documents

00:17:17.960 without you asking it to

00:17:19.160 I can only imagine

00:17:20.220 that we has just put

00:17:21.380 in a bulk order

00:17:22.040 for that same machine.

00:17:23.160 So the Kielbergers 1.00

00:17:24.300 surely are wanting

00:17:25.160 to know the make

00:17:25.720 and model of those machines

00:17:26.760 so that they can

00:17:27.480 you know outfit

00:17:28.400 their offices

00:17:29.200 and real estate

00:17:29.980 all over Toronto

00:17:31.100 and the world

00:17:31.660 with them.

00:17:32.640 But it was kind of embarrassing

00:17:34.340 and I don't know

00:17:35.220 whether it can be

00:17:35.980 entirely and squarely

00:17:37.180 put in that category

00:17:38.140 of you know

00:17:39.480 stuff happens

00:17:40.220 or if it's something

00:17:41.880 that really reveals

00:17:43.640 a broader

00:17:44.460 disorganization

00:17:46.860 because presumably

00:17:48.200 when you're counting

00:17:49.560 these ballots

00:17:50.260 and you start

00:17:50.900 the second the deadline

00:17:51.840 hits on Friday

00:17:52.740 at 5 p.m. Eastern

00:17:53.900 you know the pace

00:17:55.560 you're going

00:17:56.080 and you know

00:17:56.640 if you're getting them

00:17:57.440 so I don't know

00:17:58.540 what it was about this

00:17:59.840 and I'd be interested

00:18:00.500 in hearing from the party

00:18:01.620 about this

00:18:02.320 that made it

00:18:03.380 so that it was only

00:18:04.300 in the 11th hour

00:18:05.460 that they could say

00:18:06.140 oh yeah these problems

00:18:07.220 have just started

00:18:08.060 and was it all machines

00:18:09.780 was it how many machines

00:18:10.660 did they have running

00:18:11.420 were they able to

00:18:12.220 to work around that

00:18:13.440 so it sounded like

00:18:14.640 they had to

00:18:15.380 really just pull

00:18:16.780 the machine

00:18:17.340 or pull the ballots

00:18:18.620 out of the machines

00:18:19.740 and the ones

00:18:20.520 that were shredded

00:18:21.080 they had to like

00:18:21.720 duplicate them

00:18:22.720 so that they could

00:18:23.660 feed them back in

00:18:24.500 like it sounds like

00:18:25.420 it was a process

00:18:26.120 and again everyone

00:18:27.100 starts getting a bit

00:18:27.880 conspiratorial about it

00:18:29.200 this was supervised

00:18:30.520 by representatives

00:18:31.600 of all of the campaign teams

00:18:33.180 so no one is challenging

00:18:34.680 the legitimacy of the result

00:18:35.980 and if you look at the numbers

00:18:37.860 you know it was

00:18:38.780 it was fairly decisive

00:18:39.900 and we have a pretty

00:18:41.360 significant number there

00:18:43.560 so when we look

00:18:46.060 at the overall results

00:18:47.580 what are we likely

00:18:48.760 to see moving forward

00:18:50.060 well Erin O'Toole

00:18:51.460 leader of the conservatives

00:18:52.720 that much we know

00:18:53.560 Lesley Lewis has said

00:18:55.040 she is sticking around

00:18:56.280 for the long haul

00:18:57.080 she's going to run 1.00

00:18:57.940 Erin O'Toole

00:18:58.840 it sounds like

00:18:59.540 has been very encouraging

00:19:00.520 of this

00:19:00.960 we don't know

00:19:01.660 if she's going to run

00:19:02.380 in the riding

00:19:03.160 she ran in in 2015

00:19:04.420 which was in Scarborough

00:19:05.620 there's a York Center

00:19:07.200 by-election

00:19:07.800 coming up potentially

00:19:08.960 so could she jump

00:19:10.040 into York Center

00:19:10.840 is she going to run

00:19:11.960 in another riding

00:19:12.700 we don't know

00:19:13.360 but it sounds like

00:19:14.940 she has very quickly

00:19:16.040 catapulted herself

00:19:17.020 to what would have been

00:19:18.440 just an unknown candidate

00:19:19.960 in the GTA

00:19:20.680 to being one of the

00:19:22.460 biggest stars

00:19:23.280 in the next generation

00:19:24.780 of the Conservative Party

00:19:26.040 of Canada

00:19:26.540 and whether that's

00:19:27.740 deserved or not

00:19:28.600 that's the reputation

00:19:29.620 she now has

00:19:30.460 and that's something

00:19:31.060 that will be important

00:19:32.120 to harness

00:19:32.580 and it's also going

00:19:34.480 to be something

00:19:34.940 that's important

00:19:35.540 for Erin O'Toole

00:19:36.480 to harness

00:19:37.540 and the reason

00:19:38.740 I say that

00:19:39.420 is because

00:19:39.840 he cannot forget

00:19:40.900 that she delivered

00:19:42.980 in no small part

00:19:44.360 of the win

00:19:44.700 and it's not to discount

00:19:45.560 his team's efforts

00:19:46.480 obviously when it's

00:19:47.880 a ranked ballot

00:19:48.540 you have to have

00:19:49.320 your own support

00:19:49.960 and that of others

00:19:50.740 but she was the one

00:19:52.180 that delivered

00:19:52.620 a chunk of votes

00:19:53.380 and if you look

00:19:54.040 at the numbers

00:19:54.540 of those 10,000

00:19:56.600 some odd votes

00:19:57.340 or points that she had

00:19:58.440 in round two

00:19:59.240 of those

00:20:00.240 over 7,000

00:20:01.480 went to Erin O'Toole

00:20:02.440 and just under 3,000

00:20:04.360 went to Peter McKay

00:20:05.260 I mean that's hugely decisive

00:20:06.740 you can't get a more

00:20:07.980 clear-cut victory

00:20:09.440 than that

00:20:10.260 and when ultimately

00:20:11.220 he wins with 57%

00:20:12.720 not the 51-49%

00:20:15.180 that people were fearing

00:20:17.080 based on the 2017 results

00:20:19.280 between Maxime Bernier

00:20:20.920 and Andrew Scheer

00:20:21.740 and so on

00:20:22.600 so she's going to be around

00:20:24.560 Derek Sloan as well

00:20:25.920 I mean he's in the caucus

00:20:26.880 he's a member of parliament

00:20:28.020 he is someone who

00:20:29.760 again is going to be

00:20:30.860 sticking around

00:20:31.440 by virtue of being

00:20:32.720 a sitting MP

00:20:33.620 what I don't know

00:20:35.120 from Derek Sloan

00:20:35.920 is how much of a role

00:20:37.060 he'll be given

00:20:37.820 in the party moving forward

00:20:39.780 he's been a bit of a pariah

00:20:41.980 and there was that

00:20:43.900 ousting attempt on him

00:20:45.840 from the comments

00:20:47.360 he had made

00:20:47.820 about Teresa Tam

00:20:48.780 and Erin O'Toole claims

00:20:49.980 that he actually stood up

00:20:50.960 for Derek

00:20:51.580 and pushed back

00:20:52.860 against some of the

00:20:53.760 cancellers from within 1.00

00:20:54.800 the party

00:20:55.200 so Erin O'Toole 1.00

00:20:56.320 may have a soft spot

00:20:57.240 for Derek Sloan

00:20:57.920 or simply just

00:20:58.740 it's a soft spot

00:20:59.640 for free speech

00:21:00.420 but I would like

00:21:01.780 very much for Sloan

00:21:02.860 to be incorporated

00:21:03.880 into the shadow cabinet

00:21:06.100 in some way

00:21:06.720 in fact I would like

00:21:07.460 all the leadership candidates

00:21:08.660 to be incorporated

00:21:09.820 into that

00:21:10.780 if I know

00:21:11.800 it works out well

00:21:13.000 when they're elected

00:21:13.960 and you know

00:21:14.660 for the ones that don't

00:21:15.340 have seats

00:21:15.800 that's a different question

00:21:17.080 here's the question

00:21:18.840 I have

00:21:19.260 is Peter McKay

00:21:20.220 going to run back

00:21:21.000 to his law practice

00:21:22.760 or is he going to

00:21:23.880 jump back into politics

00:21:25.600 with both feet

00:21:26.340 it was a messy campaign

00:21:27.860 it was a messy campaign

00:21:29.720 and I've seen a lot of people

00:21:30.940 who were on the dueling teams

00:21:33.140 that have buried the hatchet

00:21:34.320 and congratulating each other

00:21:35.440 on social media

00:21:36.180 which is you know

00:21:37.000 honor among political strategists

00:21:38.740 it's an important axiom

00:21:40.120 but for Peter McKay

00:21:41.400 I don't know

00:21:42.160 if he has any interest

00:21:43.520 in being someone else's minister again

00:21:45.920 or if he was only interested

00:21:47.380 in coming back

00:21:48.100 if he was going to be

00:21:49.120 the one at the top

00:21:49.880 and to be fair

00:21:50.640 I haven't asked the McKay campaign this

00:21:52.280 because as a general rule

00:21:53.740 they just haven't been responding

00:21:55.180 to our request

00:21:56.120 but that will be something to watch

00:21:58.160 I mean was he actually interested

00:21:59.480 in getting back in

00:22:00.360 and serving again

00:22:01.360 or was it that he just wanted

00:22:02.920 to be prime minister

00:22:03.760 and those two are sometimes

00:22:05.780 very different things

00:22:06.800 so that'll be something

00:22:08.440 that we need to keep an eye out for

00:22:10.040 you know I had mentioned

00:22:11.840 earlier in the show

00:22:12.980 the mainstream media's reaction

00:22:15.280 to the Andrew Scheer comments

00:22:17.220 about the mainstream media

00:22:18.280 let's look at some of the other

00:22:19.680 negative reaction to Aaron O'Toole

00:22:21.720 now to be fair

00:22:22.580 Justin Trudeau posted

00:22:24.500 a congratulatory message

00:22:26.200 but the liberal war room

00:22:28.300 had sent out a press release

00:22:30.060 like minutes after

00:22:31.320 Aaron O'Toole started speaking

00:22:32.820 in which they congratulated him

00:22:35.400 and then went

00:22:36.180 and just trash talks

00:22:37.300 the conservatives

00:22:38.220 I'm looking at this here

00:22:39.680 the line in the email

00:22:42.140 that is attributing it to someone

00:22:44.640 attributes it to the president

00:22:45.940 of the liberal party

00:22:47.420 Suzanne Cowan

00:22:48.240 so not to Justin Trudeau

00:22:49.300 or anything

00:22:49.780 she says

00:22:50.600 on behalf of liberals

00:22:51.500 across Canada

00:22:52.300 I want to congratulate

00:22:53.560 Aaron O'Toole

00:22:54.120 on becoming the leader

00:22:54.940 of the conservative party

00:22:55.920 of Canada

00:22:56.380 and the official opposition

00:22:57.940 I have great respect

00:22:59.580 for those who put their name

00:23:00.660 on a ballot

00:23:01.120 and step forward

00:23:02.240 to contribute

00:23:03.100 to our democracy

00:23:04.180 and she goes on later

00:23:06.140 about the fact

00:23:07.000 that we have an opportunity

00:23:07.920 to do all these other things

00:23:09.380 but then

00:23:10.220 we hope that Mr. O'Toole

00:23:12.100 will reconsider

00:23:12.960 continuing to push

00:23:14.080 the same policies

00:23:15.160 of Stephen Harper

00:23:16.220 and Andrew Scheer

00:23:16.880 that he proposed

00:23:17.520 in the leadership campaign

00:23:18.720 they would take Canada

00:23:20.060 backwards

00:23:20.580 by making harmful cuts

00:23:22.180 to services

00:23:22.820 that Canadians count on

00:23:24.560 weakening Canada's 0.84

00:23:25.860 gun control laws

00:23:26.740 rolling back our work

00:23:28.040 to fight climate change

00:23:29.060 and much more

00:23:29.920 great

00:23:31.300 that's why he won

00:23:32.060 I like the much more

00:23:34.320 part of that

00:23:34.740 he's going to do

00:23:35.220 all those things

00:23:35.820 and more

00:23:36.420 great

00:23:36.800 what a bonus

00:23:37.380 but this is the thing

00:23:39.300 and I know that the liberals

00:23:40.180 have a role to play

00:23:41.080 their job is to be critical

00:23:42.520 of whoever is elected

00:23:43.740 but you know

00:23:45.000 no matter what

00:23:45.740 no conservative leader

00:23:47.120 would have earned them

00:23:48.340 or earned an endorsement

00:23:49.860 from them

00:23:50.200 they were always going to say

00:23:51.080 oh yeah

00:23:51.420 it's going to be terrible

00:23:52.600 so Aaron O'Toole

00:23:53.460 is now being hit

00:23:55.080 with that magic word

00:23:56.480 cuts

00:23:57.080 cuts cuts cuts

00:23:58.500 and that's going to be

00:23:59.140 the word you hear

00:23:59.900 everything about

00:24:01.360 from now

00:24:02.300 until the election

00:24:03.380 and even beyond

00:24:04.580 that's going to be

00:24:05.540 what the media

00:24:06.440 and the left

00:24:07.300 are trying to put

00:24:08.060 at Aaron O'Toole's feet

00:24:09.460 and you know

00:24:10.380 one of the things

00:24:10.920 the fact that he was

00:24:11.580 so unequivocal

00:24:12.600 about CBC defunding

00:24:14.180 means CBC is going to

00:24:15.500 go to war 0.60

00:24:15.980 against him

00:24:16.820 he's talked about

00:24:17.860 rolling back

00:24:18.600 the media bailout fund

00:24:19.780 so the mainstream media

00:24:20.660 is going to go

00:24:21.200 and let's take a look

00:24:22.700 at Jerry Dias

00:24:23.640 who's the head of Unifor

00:24:25.020 the union that represents

00:24:26.980 most print journalists

00:24:28.580 in Canada

00:24:29.160 who are unionized

00:24:30.200 and Jerry Dias

00:24:31.680 tweeted out

00:24:32.260 early Monday morning

00:24:33.780 Aaron O'Toole

00:24:34.600 elected as leader

00:24:35.600 of the Conservative Party

00:24:36.920 of Canada

00:24:37.380 after being endorsed

00:24:38.340 by his buddy

00:24:39.020 Jason Kenney

00:24:39.800 who is actively attacking

00:24:41.520 workers rights

00:24:42.400 in Alberta

00:24:42.940 it's clear

00:24:44.060 O'Toole is no friend

00:24:45.600 to working people

00:24:46.580 and then he's got

00:24:47.140 the photo of

00:24:47.740 angry O'Toole there

00:24:48.740 who was

00:24:49.480 it looks like

00:24:50.100 in question period

00:24:50.920 in some form

00:24:51.920 so the Unifor guy

00:24:54.060 is already declaring

00:24:55.420 that Aaron O'Toole

00:24:56.800 is the bad guy

00:24:57.640 which means

00:24:58.540 the union president

00:25:00.160 for most Canadian journalists

00:25:02.440 has already decided

00:25:04.200 that Aaron O'Toole

00:25:05.380 is the bad guy

00:25:06.360 and we saw this

00:25:08.620 in the last election

00:25:10.280 remember the resistance

00:25:11.560 when you had Unifor

00:25:12.820 and all of its team

00:25:14.760 devoting itself

00:25:16.100 to voting every waking hour

00:25:17.380 to defeating Andrew Scheer

00:25:18.520 now I don't know

00:25:19.380 if he lost the election

00:25:20.780 because of Unifor

00:25:22.020 but certainly

00:25:23.240 the union didn't do him

00:25:24.780 any favors

00:25:25.340 and look

00:25:26.180 if they want to have

00:25:26.800 their stance

00:25:27.300 that's fine

00:25:28.020 but let's understand

00:25:29.600 what we're dealing with here

00:25:30.720 and the fact

00:25:31.240 that you can have

00:25:31.880 unionized journalists

00:25:33.100 whose union

00:25:34.300 is actively campaigning

00:25:36.940 against someone

00:25:38.120 and have people

00:25:39.700 accept

00:25:40.280 that there is

00:25:41.340 objectivity there

00:25:42.580 is wrong

00:25:43.100 and incidentally

00:25:44.520 in many cases

00:25:45.260 the journalists

00:25:46.040 have no choice

00:25:46.780 you have to

00:25:47.320 to work in a particular

00:25:48.140 newsroom

00:25:48.700 join the union

00:25:49.820 a lot of them

00:25:50.680 are fair

00:25:51.300 unbiased

00:25:52.020 impartial

00:25:52.560 they're everything

00:25:53.020 you need to be

00:25:53.700 but there are some

00:25:54.620 who aren't

00:25:55.020 there are some

00:25:55.460 who are voting

00:25:56.080 in these union policies

00:25:57.880 and union representatives

00:25:58.920 that are declaring war

00:26:00.160 against conservatives

00:26:01.380 so it's already started

00:26:02.620 and this is the whole point

00:26:04.660 when Aaron O'Toole says

00:26:05.840 the work starts now

00:26:07.280 the opposition's work

00:26:09.280 has started

00:26:09.860 I don't mean the official

00:26:10.620 opposition as far as

00:26:11.760 conservatives

00:26:12.220 but the resistance

00:26:13.560 to conservatives

00:26:14.660 that fight started 0.96

00:26:16.560 immediately as well

00:26:17.860 and to go back

00:26:19.800 to the comments

00:26:20.460 I made earlier

00:26:21.120 about the importance

00:26:21.860 of the next leader

00:26:22.980 digging their heels

00:26:24.200 and this is what

00:26:24.980 Aaron O'Toole has to do

00:26:26.040 the Mr. Nice Guy routine

00:26:28.300 is not going to cut it

00:26:29.420 and it didn't work

00:26:31.300 for Andrew Scheer

00:26:32.060 who tried to be liked

00:26:33.080 and tried to be amiable

00:26:34.180 and tried to be convivial

00:26:35.340 with the media

00:26:35.760 it didn't work

00:26:36.300 and in the end

00:26:37.160 he ultimately started

00:26:38.040 to punch a bit

00:26:38.780 and Aaron O'Toole

00:26:39.620 I would suggest

00:26:40.300 you start the punch now

00:26:41.760 start the punch now 0.97

00:26:43.380 because that is the best way

00:26:44.860 of pushing back

00:26:45.600 against this

00:26:46.140 show that you're not

00:26:47.000 a shrinking violet

00:26:47.780 show that you're up

00:26:48.580 to the fight

00:26:49.120 and show conservatives

00:26:50.320 that they voted you

00:26:51.560 into the leadership role

00:26:52.740 that you have

00:26:53.400 for a reason

00:26:54.900 for a reason

00:26:56.660 I just want to make

00:26:59.200 one observation

00:27:00.300 if I may

00:27:00.860 about the system

00:27:01.900 that elected

00:27:03.020 Aaron O'Toole

00:27:03.760 as conservative leader

00:27:04.920 because I realize

00:27:05.920 for people that aren't

00:27:06.960 just immersed in this stuff

00:27:08.040 day in day out

00:27:08.760 it's actually

00:27:09.360 very challenging

00:27:10.760 to understand

00:27:11.700 exactly how things

00:27:13.160 went the way they did

00:27:14.160 so the way it works

00:27:15.480 is every riding

00:27:16.520 has a hundred points

00:27:17.460 whether it's

00:27:17.940 a Bitsy Bitsy Miskim 0.97

00:27:18.760 in Quebec

00:27:19.080 or Calgary Centre

00:27:21.280 doesn't matter

00:27:22.000 every riding

00:27:22.880 is worth a hundred points

00:27:24.060 so when all of the members

00:27:27.320 mail in their ballots

00:27:28.240 those are tied

00:27:29.140 to the riding

00:27:30.400 but here's where

00:27:31.660 things get interesting

00:27:32.660 yes it's a ranked ballot

00:27:33.800 but if you have a riding

00:27:35.040 like Calgary West

00:27:36.340 that has thousands

00:27:37.260 of members

00:27:37.880 and they each

00:27:39.660 have a vote

00:27:40.680 that is worth

00:27:41.680 their share

00:27:42.620 of the 100 points

00:27:44.100 basically

00:27:44.520 so you know

00:27:45.440 if you've got

00:27:45.900 ten thousand members

00:27:46.900 which is a ridiculous number

00:27:48.200 let's say a thousand members

00:27:49.320 well

00:27:50.020 every vote

00:27:52.020 is worth less

00:27:53.400 than in a riding

00:27:54.520 in Quebec

00:27:55.440 or something

00:27:56.080 that has 20 members

00:27:57.180 in which case

00:27:57.800 every vote

00:27:58.480 is worth five points

00:27:59.480 so typically votes

00:28:00.760 are worth a fraction

00:28:01.780 of a point

00:28:02.260 but in some really

00:28:02.960 small ridings

00:28:03.800 they're worth

00:28:04.860 more than a point

00:28:05.640 so I hope I haven't

00:28:07.260 confused you more

00:28:07.960 by saying that

00:28:08.800 but it means that

00:28:09.860 winning over support

00:28:11.100 in areas that aren't

00:28:12.120 conventional

00:28:12.740 conservative strongholds

00:28:14.300 actually helps you

00:28:15.420 in a leadership race

00:28:16.520 and the one

00:28:17.620 real number

00:28:18.580 that we saw

00:28:19.240 that revealed that

00:28:20.380 was Aaron O'Toole's

00:28:21.940 showing in Quebec

00:28:23.280 and again

00:28:24.320 Quebec is not an area

00:28:25.440 that elects a lot

00:28:26.160 of conservatives

00:28:26.680 typically

00:28:27.200 but they still have

00:28:28.460 conservatives there

00:28:29.300 they have conservative

00:28:30.280 apparati in play

00:28:31.500 and Aaron O'Toole

00:28:32.720 did a lot

00:28:33.280 to campaign to that

00:28:34.280 he had a specific

00:28:35.420 Quebec platform

00:28:36.760 he didn't have that

00:28:37.960 for any other provinces

00:28:39.040 and if you look

00:28:40.100 at the numbers

00:28:40.640 he had an incredibly

00:28:42.080 strong showing

00:28:42.980 in Quebec

00:28:43.480 the numbers

00:28:44.640 on the first ballot

00:28:45.580 had O'Toole

00:28:46.340 at 3,532 points

00:28:48.640 and McKay

00:28:49.620 at 2,685

00:28:50.860 now for neither

00:28:52.340 to be a native

00:28:53.180 French speaker

00:28:54.260 winning over Quebec support

00:28:55.440 is going to be

00:28:55.880 a bit of a challenge

00:28:56.680 Lewis and Sloan

00:28:58.200 were behind

00:28:59.020 at 781

00:29:00.700 and 802

00:29:01.980 respectively

00:29:02.600 but Quebec

00:29:04.160 the second most

00:29:05.140 populous province

00:29:06.240 in the country

00:29:06.840 gave O'Toole

00:29:07.940 a huge leg up

00:29:09.080 in those

00:29:09.440 and really served

00:29:10.360 as the foundation

00:29:11.180 for the support

00:29:12.360 that he picked up

00:29:12.980 on the second ballot

00:29:13.840 and ultimately

00:29:14.600 the third

00:29:15.740 and final ballot

00:29:17.080 so it shows

00:29:17.920 I mean you got to

00:29:18.440 play your campaign

00:29:19.140 to the system

00:29:19.820 I know the O'Toole campaign

00:29:21.220 had been very confident

00:29:22.920 and I would say

00:29:23.560 almost cocky

00:29:24.500 going into it

00:29:25.900 and I was talking

00:29:26.740 to a couple of people

00:29:27.780 from the O'Toole campaign

00:29:28.900 throughout the course

00:29:30.060 of the evening

00:29:30.960 on Sunday night

00:29:31.660 and they were saying

00:29:32.340 listen I mean we're still

00:29:33.160 we stand by our numbers

00:29:34.940 it wasn't just that feeling

00:29:36.300 they had said

00:29:36.840 they had data

00:29:37.600 and the data

00:29:38.740 ultimately proved

00:29:39.860 to be correct

00:29:40.900 so

00:29:41.220 certainly a good endorsement

00:29:43.300 for whoever

00:29:43.700 was responsible

00:29:44.440 for making their predictions

00:29:45.760 and projections

00:29:46.500 and doing their exit polling

00:29:48.360 I know this has been

00:29:49.900 a bit of a different show

00:29:52.020 than usual

00:29:52.580 playing a couple of clips

00:29:53.680 talking about some of the themes

00:29:54.820 but as we are standing here

00:29:57.440 the day after

00:29:58.380 the Conservative Party of Canada

00:30:00.260 leadership race

00:30:01.020 the long awaiting results

00:30:02.220 in

00:30:02.500 I thought it was important

00:30:03.680 to devote the entire episode

00:30:05.300 to focusing on

00:30:07.220 not just the result itself

00:30:08.980 but the themes

00:30:09.740 the story that drove that

00:30:11.620 and we will have

00:30:12.760 a more in-depth analysis

00:30:13.960 on the show

00:30:14.780 on Wednesday

00:30:15.740 this is Canada's

00:30:17.200 most irreverent talk show

00:30:18.400 The Andrew Lawton Show

00:30:19.240 thank you

00:30:19.760 God bless

00:30:20.280 and good day Canada

00:30:21.240 thanks for listening

00:30:22.240 to The Andrew Lawton Show

00:30:23.420 support the program

00:30:24.480 by donating to True North

00:30:25.720 at www.tnc.news

Juno News - August 24, 2020

Erin O'Toole wins Conservative leadership

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