O’Toole asks MPs to keep quiet on hot-button political issues
Global News
Request to tighten message control comes as Erin O’Toole faces splinter group within caucus championing “civil liberties” over mandatory COVID-19 vaccines.
Erin O’Toole’s office is asking Conservative MPs to keep quiet on hot-button political issues as the party struggles to maintain message discipline.
An email to MPs obtained by Global News shows O’Toole’s office asked MPs on Thursday to refrain from commenting on a proposal to redistribute the federal ridings. The issue promises to be a contentious one, with Quebec slated to lose one seat based on population, and the Bloc Quebecois promising to release the “fires of hell” over the possibility.
Alberta, meanwhile, would gain three seats, presenting a difficult problem for a Conservative leader who hopes to gain ground in Quebec while maintaining the party’s prairie heartland.
So the Office of the Leader of the Opposition (OLO) suggested Conservative MPs direct any media requests for comment to their communications team, rather than have MPs express their own opinions. Two sources verified it had been sent to the Conservative caucus Thursday.
“The OLO keeps on putting out messages to caucus saying ‘please don’t respond to media inquiries on x, y and z’ … and then complete silence, please do not respond and direct all media inquiries to OLO,” said one Conservative MP, who agreed to discuss the matter on the condition of not being named.
The MP said it was not the first time O’Toole’s office had tried to prevent the Conservative caucus from commenting on political issues publicly.
“Caucus, number one, doesn’t know what OLO is going to say. But number two, OLO doesn’t say anything and we’re all supposed to play their game of: no one moves, no one gets hurt.”
O’Toole’s office declined to comment on the email.
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