Pent-up Tory frustration leads to ‘bloodbath’ on the caucus floor

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This article was published 19/12/2021 (1005 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The brewing tensions of the past three months, since the Conservatives’ disappointing election loss, came to a head last Wednesday in what one MP described as a “bloodbath.”

The blood spilled on the caucus floor belonged to party Leader Erin O’Toole, the MP offered in vivid detail. It was the culmination of weeks of frustration, anger, lies, betrayal, shifting alliances, scheming and plotting that have come to characterize the human drama behind the scenes between O’Toole and his caucus.

During the Tories’ last meeting, public dissenters were labelled “cowards” for airing their opposition to Quebec’s Bill 21 over social media. Social Conservatives, upset they’d taken one for the team on the Liberals’ conversion therapy ban, known as C-4, were livid that Red Tory colleagues were publicly celebrating the move, suggesting their views promoted hate and fear.

The appearance of the Omicron variant, coupled with O’Toole’s leadership troubles, has exposed deep fault lines within the Tories’ tenuous coalition. There are different cliques of MPs: those opposed to lockdowns, those upset with O’Toole’s reversal on carbon pricing, those upset with his hands-off approach to Bill 21, those upset over the rush to pass C-4, those who support C-4, those angry over Sen. Denise Batters’s expulsion from caucus, those upset by what they see as the public hanging of Alberta MP Shannon Stubbs.

On Dec. 6, Stubbs found herself in the Globe and Mail, accused of mistreating her staff and having them paint her bedroom. O’Toole’s office said it had referred the allegations to the House of Commons administration (an eyebrow-raising detail, as these matters are usually referred to the party’s whip for investigation).

Stubbs denied the allegations, telling the newspaper she was a victim of retaliation for publicly calling for an early review of O’Toole’s leadership. (He is scheduled to face a vote at the party’s next convention, scheduled for August 2023 in Quebec City).

O’Toole’s side suggests the leader was insulating himself — in case he’s later accused of not acting.

At the same time, one insider noted: “It’s important for a leader to be strong and decisive. The failure to do that is interpreted as weakness and encourages more of the same.”

The Star spoke to several Conservative MPs and other party sources, granting them anonymity to discuss internal party matters.

Every MP I spoke to believes O’Toole’s office leaked the information itself to send a message to other dissidents.

“It’s so obvious that even the biggest rookie in caucus is going to realize that O’Toole’s taking you out,” one observer noted. “At this point, if you’re Mark Strahl, if you’re Chris Warkentin, I mean those guys are now going to think that O’Toole’s going to come for them, too.”

Two days later, in caucus, O’Toole suggested his fingerprints weren’t on the Stubbs story, telling MPs he believes her. It was Stubbs’s 42nd birthday and MPs sang her “Happy Birthday.” It was a show of solidarity, some suggested, one similar to the standing ovation Strahl received when he returned from his Fraser Valley riding of Chilliwack-Hope, devastated by the B.C. flooding.

After the election, Strahl had called for a critical examination of every aspect of the Conservatives’ campaign. Warkentin, the Alberta MP for Grande Prairie—Mackenzie, had blamed O’Toole’s waffling for the election loss, telling his local paper he’d heard from members who wanted a leadership change.

Over the past two weeks, MPs have been standing up for each other — in public and in caucus.

Last week, some demanded to know why a Conservative staffer wasn’t fired for publicly criticizing Stubbs to the Globe.

When Dufferin-Caledon MP Kyle Seeback tweeted he could not “in good conscience keep silent on this anymore” and politicians needed to stand up and oppose Bill 21, the Quebec law banning public servants from wearing visible religious symbols, Strahl, Warkentin and Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Jamie Schmale tweeted their agreement. Actions that suggest there is safety in numbers.

They have reasons to fear retaliation.

Three weeks after Bert Chen, a Conservative Ontario national councillor, started a petition calling for an early review of O’Toole’s leadership, he was suspended from his elected position.

When Batters, a longtime party activist, tried to do the same (her petition has more than 7,100 signatures), she was shown the door. Though the senator remains a member of the Tory Senate caucus, she is barred from sitting on any committees.

There was talk other MPs would publicly lend their support to her petition, but so far crickets.

Who can blame them?

“Party insiders” told the CBC, when Batters was thrown out, that O’Toole had secured enough support to send packing any MP who supported her efforts.

In October, Conservative MPs adopted the Reform Act, giving themselves the power to call for a caucus leadership review or to expel caucus members. As long as 24 members requested it, a secret-ballot majority vote can boot the leader or a caucus member.

On. Nov. 16, the CBC cited “senior Conservative sources” saying 24 MPs had pledged to sign a letter requesting the removal of a colleague.

O’Toole had already appointed 78 MPs — of 118 — to his shadow cabinet. He packed his team with new MPs, those ideologically aligned and even some old allies who’d backed Peter MacKay during the last leadership contest over concerns O’Toole lacked the right leadership skills.

Now, O’Toole was suggesting he had the numbers to oust anyone.

Whether that’s true or not is unclear. But sitting as an Independent would likely doom an MP’s chances of re-election.

It was a period of fear, anxiety. People watched their backs.

A week earlier, O’Toole’s staff had threatened Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu if she didn’t publicly apologize for minimizing the risks of COVID-19. Gladu and some colleagues had hoped to create a mini-caucus to discuss ways of assisting unvaccinated constituents.

Initially, O’Toole, who opposed vaccine mandates during the election, supported efforts by some MPs to resist a requirement that everyone in the House of Commons be vaccinated. But when the House voted on the measure, forcing four Conservative unvaccinated MPs to attend proceedings virtually, O’Toole chose not to come to their defence.

His biggest challenge this fall may have been the machinations over C-4, the Liberals’ updated ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy. Two-thirds of the Conservative caucus opposed the legislation when it was before the House this spring, and the Grits used that as a wedge issue during the campaign.

Most Tories wanted to put the thorny issue behind them, and though O’Toole promised free votes, after a pretty consensual caucus meeting on the topic he told reporters he would work to fast-track the bill.

Social Conservative MPs insist they did not know this would mean the leader’s office would propose a unanimous consent motion right after question period that day. In a letter to supporters, Manitoba MP Ted Falk described MPs being caught by surprise. “Before I could process what was happening, the motion had been passed,” the MP for Provencher said.

With the Bloc Québécois, NDP, Greens and Liberals all supporting the legislation, the Tories needed only to ensure their MPs kept silent.

So O’Toole’s team used a practice whereby MPs defer to the leadership team on unanimous consent motions that haven’t been discussed in caucus. The irony is the Liberals say the Tories gave them a heads-up about the motion. According to Falk and Peace River—Westlock MP Arnold Viersen, O’Toole’s office didn’t offer the same courtesy to their own MPs.

There is a big gulf in caucus between those who support O’Toole’s efforts to move the Conservative party to the centre, and those who want to see more traditional party stances taken. The debate over Bill 21 has now added another dimension, opening cleavages between Quebec MPs who support O’Toole’s non-interference in the province’s affairs and a lot of MPs who would like him to take a tougher stance.

This weekend, on the CBC program “The House,” O’Toole said the party is “in the process of doing both some internal and external outreach” on Bill 21.

Some in caucus think O’Toole’s main preoccupation is fighting to keep his job.

Perhaps his non-interference stance on Bill 21 can help him secure the support of Quebec delegates for his leadership review and help him survive.

The challenge, however, is that an increasing number of caucus members seem to doubt O’Toole will make it that far.

Althia Raj is an Ottawa-based national politics columnist for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @althiaraj