Erin OB次元官网网址橳oole has lost a vote to remain leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
The partyB次元官网网址檚 119 members of Parliament met virtually today to cast secret ballots after about one-third of them signed a notice that triggered a leadership review.
Ontario MP and national caucus chair Scott Reid said in a statement that 73 Conservative MPs voted to replace him while 45 endorsed him.
As caucus chair, Reid said he did not vote.
Conservative MPs must now choose who will serve as the partyB次元官网网址檚 interim leader until the membership elects a permanent leader for the third time since 2017.
My message to Canadians
B次元官网网址� Erin O'Toole (@erinotoole)
Mon message aux Canadiens
New Brunswick MP John Williamson says he would like to be the interim leader.
B次元官网网址淚 will respect my caucus colleagues. I will listen to our movement,B次元官网网址� he wrote on social media moments after OB次元官网网址橳oole lost the vote.
B次元官网网址淚 know how to keep us united around the things that matter most to us as Conservatives.B次元官网网址�
The Reform Act, which has been in place since 2015, allows a partyB次元官网网址檚 MPs to trigger a leadership review instead of waiting for the question to be put to the wider membership.
The Conservative caucus is the only one that voted last year to accept the rule as binding.
On Monday night, after news of the coming leadership review came out, OB次元官网网址橳oole put out a social media post that painted his dissenters as believing the party should hold more extreme views resembling those of Ontario MPP Randy Hillier and ex-MP Derek Sloan.
OB次元官网网址橳oole and his team then started calling different MPs seeking their support.
Before the vote, Saskatchewan MP Jeremy Patzer also shared a statement with caucus from 21 former Conservative MPs, including former agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, that called for a new leader.
B次元官网网址淓rin OB次元官网网址橳oole has not only failed to unite the party, his words and actions in recent days have created greater disunity,B次元官网网址� reads the statement obtained by The Canadian Press.
B次元官网网址淚t is time for him to step aside for the good of the Conservative Party and the nation.B次元官网网址�
Former Edmonton MP Kerry Diotte, who lost his in seat the recent election, published his own social media post late Tuesday saying that as a former military man, OB次元官网网址橳oole should know when heB次元官网网址檚 lost the battle.
B次元官网网址淭he writing is on the wall,B次元官网网址� he said in a post of Facebook.
Garnett Genuis was among the Conservative MPs who were hoping to oust OB次元官网网址橳oole. He expressed confidence Tuesday about the likelihood that they had the numbers.
OB次元官网网址橳oole, a 49-year-old Ontario MP, took over the reins of the party in August 2020.
The corporate lawyer and Air Force veteran was first elected in a byelection in 2012 in the riding of Durham, a region his father also represented when he was in provincial politics.
OB次元官网网址橳oole served as a cabinet minister for veterans affairs in former prime minister Stephen HarperB次元官网网址檚 Conservative government before it fell to the Liberals in the 2015 election.
He then put his name forward to be interim leader but lost. He tried again, this time for the party leadership in 2017, but placed third behind Andrew Scheer.
One of the major knocks critics had against OB次元官网网址橳oole began after the 2020 race, where he ran as the B次元官网网址渢rue blueB次元官网网址� candidate over former cabinet minister Peter MacKay.
Once in power, OB次元官网网址橳oole told party members changes were needed if it hoped to make gains in electorally-important regions like the Greater Toronto Area.
In an attempt to modernize the party and differentiate himself from Scheer B次元官网网址� whose social conservative views dogged him in the 2019 campaign B次元官网网址� OB次元官网网址橳oole promoted his support of access to abortion and LGBTQ rights.
He also embraced carbon pricing, despite the fact that some of his MPs, including many in Western Canada, fought for years against the Liberal governmentB次元官网网址檚 carbon-pricing mechanism, which the Conservatives called a B次元官网网址渃arbon tax.B次元官网网址�
During the leadership contest, OB次元官网网址橳oole pledged that it would be scrapped.
During last yearB次元官网网址檚 election campaign, OB次元官网网址橳oole tried to attract more voters by putting a more moderate stamp on the party.
He also raised the ire of firearms activists and social conservatives by reversing course on promises midway through the race that were inked into his platform when he was being attacked by the Liberals.
Critics like Sen. Denise Batters, who last November began petitioning the party to hold an early leadership review, said his flip-flops damaged his image with Canadians and made him untrustworthy.
Others also point out that OB次元官网网址橳oole finished with two fewer seats than Scheer did in 2019, and failed to make gains the party needed in major cities and suburbs.
Since his election defeat, OB次元官网网址橳oole has struggled to bring his caucus together on issues like vaccine mandates, with many of his MPs feeling the party needed to take a tougher stand against such policies.
He has also faced pressure to more forcefully oppose a controversial secularism law in Quebec and faced pushback from members of the partyB次元官网网址檚 social conservative wing for fast-tracking a government bill to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ Canadians.
