Conservative leadership hopefuls must focus on electability after ‘nasty’ debate: MacKay

Peter MacKay told The West Block that the often contentious debate was "off-putting" to Canadian voters who will need to be swayed if the party has a hope of toppling the Liberals.

Candidates running to become the next leader of the Conservative party need to focus on portraying themselves as capable of winning the next general election and avoid “nasty” attacks on each other, former leadership candidate Peter MacKay says.

In an interview with Eric Sorenson on The West Block Sunday, MacKay — who narrowly lost the leadership to Erin O’Toole in 2020 — said Thursday’s often contentious debate among five of the six candidates was “off-putting” to Canadian voters who will need to be swayed if the party has a hope of toppling the Liberals.

“Frankly, I don’t think the overall public impression of Canadians is positive,” he said.

“Leadership contests by design are intended to test the mettle of potential leaders and their ideas, and to see if they’re tough and are able to defend and, more importantly, articulate those ideas and vision.

“But when it becomes personal, when you see some of the really pointed (and) nasty exchanges on display in that debate, I don’t think it bodes well.”

Much of the unofficial debate was dominated by apparent frontrunners Pierre Poilievre and Jean Charest, who spent the evening exchanging attempted haymakers and accusing the other of being unfit to lead the party into the next election.

Fellow candidate Leslyn Lewis, who faced MacKay in the 2020 leadership race, also hurled several attacks at Poilievre for not sufficiently supporting the convoy protests and avoiding taking a firmer stance on abortion.

MacKay suggested aggressive tactics like these, while popular among some parts of the Conservative base, may not appeal to the general public.