The Canadian Trucker Protest Claims Its First Political Casualty… the Conservative Opposition Leader – Opinion

It is making political watching a lot more interesting than ever. The Canadian Trucker Protest, which rolled into the nation’s capital of Ottawa last weekend, is still going strong and has claimed its first political scalp.

Unfortunately, it was not the Prime Minister whose government has caused all of this angst, but the leader of the opposition to Trudeau’s government, Conservative MP Erin O’Toole.

The following are the National Post…

Erin O’Toole was ousted from the party’s top job, leaving his former deputy Candice Bergen to helm a divided caucus until its members elect a new leader with a new direction.

The Manitoba MP, who served as a minister of state in former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, was chosen by her colleagues Wednesday evening.

Bergen, who was deputy leader of the Conservatives under O’Toole, has represented the riding of Portage–Lisgar since 2008 and was Opposition House leader from 2016 to 2020.

It will be the third race for the leadership since Stephen Harper, former prime minister, resigned after being defeated by the Liberals during the 2015 election.

Scott Reid (Conservative MP) says Bergen was one the nine interim leaders.

Canadian journalist Andrew Lawton was one of the first to report this breaking news Wednesday, after the vote to remove O’Toole occurred.

BREAKING: Erin O’Toole, Conservative leader has been reelected by his caucus. It was decisive, despite the fact that I received conflicting numbers.

— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) February 2, 2022

Last week, before the weekend peaceful protest in Ottawa, Andrew and I talked on my WAAM podcast about what O’Toole had done leading up to the trucks rolling into the nation’s capital (listen to it right Click here).

The leader of the Conservative party appeared to hesitate. I believe he was aware how large this movement was and more worried that Canada might soon be ready for its Jan 6th. That seems to ultimately have cost O’Toole his job as the leader of the opposition party to the Trudeau government.

Erin O’Toole was also the Conservatives’ leader in the last national election, back in September of 2021, and it is not unusual for a leader who just lost a national election to lose the leadership spot right after. But he appeared to be safe at the moment. This was until Trudeau’s trucker/cross border vax mandate, which took effect on January 15, for truckers returning to Canada.

Now, that protests are spreading, from truckers to what seem to be just everyday average Canadians who are sick of any and all mandates being instituted, it would seem to be the perfect time for a change at the top of the largest opposition party to Justin Trudeau’s government. The party still has to elect a new leader, being Bergan is just the interim leader, and that vote should take place quickly — to take advantage of what is happening on the ground.

There is clearly energy across the country behind protestors of Canada’s federal government. It has been amazing to observe from that side.

Trudeau is the Prime Minister Leather hides recovers from COVID, his fellow countrymen have gathered in the  capital and in other provinces throughout that big, beautiful country, and I have not seen any reports of violence or arrests. In the same way that O’Toole, the former leader of the Conservative Party, misread what was happening in the country, it could be very possible that Trudeau is doing the same exact thing.

He has redoubled his rhetoric about the fact that protestors make up a tiny minority in his country and that his party won’t pay much attention to them.

Andrew didn’t think Trudeau would be replaced in my discussion with Lawton. Since last Wednesday, however, much has changed.

Maybe truckers want to be seen as political spies.