Erin O’Toole says his position on abortion hasn’t changed. But his leadership platform suggests otherwise

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This article was published 19/08/2021 (1127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Erin O’Toole says his position on access to abortion hasn’t changed. His platform in the Conservatives’ 2020 leadership race says otherwise.

O’Toole has faced questions on the campaign trail about his party’s pledge to protect “the conscience rights” of health-care professionals who refuse to provide services — like abortion, or medical assistance in dying — that go against their religious or personal beliefs.

The Conservative leader maintained Friday that health-care professionals would still be required to refer patients seeking such services to physicians who are willing to perform the procedures.

“Yes, they will have to refer, because the rights to access those services exist across the country and this is about striking a reasonable balance,” O’Toole said at a campaign stop in Winnipeg.

When reporters pointed out that his 2020 leadership campaign explicitly said he would introduce legislation to protect health-care professionals from being compelled to refer patients “for services that violate their conscience,” O’Toole denied that there was any contradiction.

“My position has never changed,” O’Toole said.

“I’m pro-choice, as I’ve said repeatedly, and I’ll say every day in the campaign I will always stand up for the rights of all Canadians and that includes women, that includes the LGBTQ community and that’s my track record.”

The Liberals are certainly hoping O’Toole will have to say that “every day in the campaign.” The party’s 2019 campaign focused on how the Conservatives under then-leader Andrew Scheer would approach social conservative issues. Those questions dogged Scheer, who struggled to articulate clear responses.

While O’Toole’s answers have been more definitive, the inclusion of “conscience rights” in his platform — and the apparent contradictions between what he said during the leadership race and what he is saying on the campaign trail — have provided an opening for the Liberal attack.

And in a situation that would be familiar to Scheer, O’Toole is simultaneously facing pressure from social conservative activists, who view him as insufficiently devoted to their cause.

Members of the Conservative riding association in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell have resigned after the party’s central campaign disallowed a well-known social conservative’s candidacy.

A number of riding association officials quit in protest over the decision to bar Pierre Lemieux, a former Conservative MP who finished seventh in the party’s 2017 leadership race, from running in the eastern Ontario riding.

According to Jennifer Snell, one of the riding officials who resigned, Lemieux requested the party grant him a waiver to run in the election in January. The waiver was required after Lemieux twice failed to secure the riding in the last two federal elections, despite holding the seat between 2006 and 2015.

“We very much suspect that his waiver was disallowed because he’s vocally social conservative,” Snell said in an interview.

“We also suspect that they waited until they had someone that would be a red Tory, a Toronto elite, and would be willing to come into the riding and run.”

The Star was unable to reach Lemieux on Friday.

Snell and Joël Charbonneau, who also resigned from the riding association, said the waiver was abruptly rejected last week and a new candidate — Susan McArthur — announced via social media.

“We haven’t gotten an explanation from the party. I think it’s just a purge of social conservatives that you’ve been seeing going on under Erin O’Toole,” said Charbonneau, who is now considering voting for the People’s Party of Canada in this election.

“During the leadership race … (O’Toole) was claiming to be the true blue conservative, the one who was going to oppose carbon taxes and the whole nine yards. And we’ve seen after the leadership race, now he’s all about this Optimum point carbon tax rebate system.

“There’s a whole list of things I’d trust more than Erin O’Toole and his word.” Charbonneau added.

In a written statement, a spokesperson for the Conservative campaign declined to say why Lemieux’s candidacy was rejected.

“In accordance with our nomination rules, an applicant must not have been an unsuccessful candidate in both of the two prior federal general elections. Waiving of this requirement is an exception, not the rule, and we followed the process in place,” said Chelsea Tucker, the party’s director of media relations.

A campaign source told the Star Lemieux’s waiver was rejected because he lost in 2019 by a significant margin—7,633 votes—to the Liberal incumbent, Francis Drouin.

Alex Boutilier is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @alexboutilier