THUNDER BAY – Local Conservatives say the party’s leadership race is too close to call between front-runners Peter MacKay and Erin O’Toole, in advance of results being announced Sunday evening – but the difference between the two outcomes may be subtle.
John Bell, president of the Conservatives’ Thunder Bay-Superior North riding association, considers both MacKay and O’Toole part of the more progressive wing of the party. He wasn’t sure which would emerge on top Sunday, though he was confident one of them would triumph over social conservatives Leslyn Lewis and Derek Sloan.
“At this stage, I think it’s a toss-up between the two leading candidates,” he said. “They’re both very able. They represent slightly different wings of the party, but overall I would say they are in many ways quite similar and would by and large lead the party in a similar manner.”
Bell had refrained from publicly supporting a candidate in the race, a practice he asked all members of the riding association’s board to follow. Splits over previous leadership races had sometimes proved divisive, he said, and wanted volunteers to focus on victory in the next federal election.
He hoped the victor would be MacKay or O’Toole, however, saying their more centrist positions on social issues aligned better with the views of local residents.
“Thunder Bay-Superior North tends to be a bit of a progressive riding,” he explained. “I think they’re looking for someone who’s a progressive and will allow the party to win on some of the more substantial social issues.”
Derek Parks, a two-time provincial candidate in Thunder Bay-Superior North for the Progressive Conservatives, had thrown his support behind MacKay, serving as the campaign’s riding captain.
The call came down to the former federal leader’s years of experience, including as a founding partner uniting the Progressive Conservative and Alliance parties.
“With Peter Mackay, I was looking for experience,” he said. “He’s been around a while and there’s some baggage there, but I’m okay with that baggage [because] we need the experience. Peter Mackay united the right and we had the Harper years. I think someone who saw the bigger picture and took one for the team deserves that chance.”
Despite some tension between the two campaigns, Parks said he doesn’t see profound ideological differences between the two, and would happily support O’Toole if he won.
“Everyone knows politics is a blood sport, but at the end of the day people are trying hard, and that effort will be put forward on a national campaign when it’s called,” he said.
It had been a challenge to capture attention for the leadership campaign with the COVID-19 pandemic and other major developments dominating headlines, both Bell and Parks acknowledged.
Still, both felt the leadership race had helped build the Conservative base in the region. Official numbers had yet to be confirmed, but Bell expected to match or top the 500 new members the party added in Thunder Bay-Superior North during the 2017 race that anointed departing leader Andrew Scheer.
