The Conservatives’ third defeat at the hands of Justin Trudeau and the Liberals should be considered a rebuke of the party’s strategy to tack hard towards the so-called centre. It definitely shouldn’t mean that the party should try even harder to moderate itself, as leader Erin O’Toole suggested in his concession speech. Instead, the lesson the Conservatives should learn from this loss is that they’d be better off selling their own ideas to voters, rather than watered-down Liberal, or even NDP, policies.
Fearless prediction – O’Toole will remain CPC leader and no material changes will be made to the centre-left program. I suspect the ‘brain trust’ regards the election result as proof of concept that a permanent leftward shift is a viable path to power. Anyone who disagrees will be welcome to lump it or leave it as the party casts its net for disgruntled Liberals. O’Toole talks of outreach to those who have walked away from the CPC. Frankly given his record of flip flops I would not trust him.
