(Photo supplied by Foothills MP John Barlow)

By David Opinko

Foothills MP on O’Toole’s future as Conservative leader, what went wrong in campaign

Oct 6, 2021 | 11:34 AM

CROWSNEST PASS, AB – One of Southern Alberta’s newly re-elected MPs admits there were clear missteps in the Conservative Party’s federal election campaign.

Those missteps lead to the party holding onto their status as the Official Opposition while the Liberals secured another minority government, resulting in few meaningful changes.

Conservative MPs met in Ottawa on Tuesday for the first time since the election two weeks ago to discuss where they should go from here.

Some were of the opinion that Leader Erin O’Toole should be ousted from the head of the table, while others acknowledge him as still being a capable leader who can learn lessons from this past campaign.

LNN asked Foothills MP John Barlow what he thinks about the future of his party’s leadership.

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“I’m going to wait and see what Mr. O’Toole does here in the next couple of weeks. Certainly, we had our caucus meeting [Tuesday] and I know there was certainly some responsibility taken for the results of the campaign and, hopefully, some lessons learned. You know, the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.”

It will ultimately be up to the party membership to decide whether O’Toole stays on as leader, not the elected caucus.

Barlow says, in the early weeks of the election campaign, the Conservatives were doing a great job at staying focused on key issues.

During that time, it appeared to him that the Conservatives might win the election.

As time went on, however, support for the party changed as the party’s own positions did as well.

“We were on message, we were doing well. We were talking about the economy and accountability and affordability, and then in the last 10 days, when there’s so many mixed messages or misunderstandings on where we stood on mandatory vaccinations and firearms, I think those two things really tripped us up.”

Those were the sentiments he heard from many people across his riding as he and his team were door-knocking.

Barlow remains optimistic that O’Toole has the necessary tools to learn lessons from the 2021 campaign. Whether or not he can re-adjust and re-focus in a way that would bring the Conservatives stronger results in the next election remains to be seen.

Lethbridge MP Rachael Harder and Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz declined opportunities for interviews with LNN.