Erin O'Toole was dethroned as head of Canada's Conservative Party because he created an environment of misdirection and toxicity, according to a former member of Parliament who likened him to a RINO in the Republican Party in the U.S. backed by establishment insiders.
Derek Sloan, a member of the House of Commons before being ousted from the party caucus and taking over as head of the smaller conservative Ontario Party, asserted that O'Toole's ouster on Wednesday by 61% of the Conservative caucus was due to his leftward shift in policy direction.
''Nobody likes to be misled, and his flip-flopping from conservative policies to more centrist ones [show that],'' said Sloan, who lost a 2020 bid against O'Toole for the Conservative Party leadership. ''He flip-flopped from the carbon tax, and opposition to the carbon tax has been a central pillar of conservative policy. He promised to never impose one, and then O'Toole promised it during the campaign.''
Furthermore, he accused O'Toole of not sufficiently supporting the Canadian truckers' protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and related measures.
''O'Toole made clear he wanted to ram through his agenda whether the whole caucus wanted it or not,'' Sloan said. ''O'Toole's wishy-washy mentality shows also during the trucker movement. He won't say whether he supports or opposes the truckers, and the truckers' protest has indirectly provided fuel to the [rebel MPs] that led to O'Toole's removal as leader.''
Sloan's accusations come after O'Toole derided the former MP in a Twitter post in his bid to remain as head of the party, pointing to him as an example of what conservatives needed to distance themselves from.
''There are two roads open to the Conservative Party of Canada,'' O'Toole wrote. ''One is the road of Randy Hillier and Derek Sloan. It is angry, negative, and extreme,'' adding, ''To recognize that conservatism is organic not static and that a winning message is one of inclusion, optimism, ideas and hope.''
Hillier is a member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament from the Ontario First Party.
Sloan compared the revolt against O'Toole to the GOP's grassroots efforts, which many see as personified by former President Donald Trump and opposed by entrenched party apparatchiks.
''The base of the GOP and the Conservative Party of Canada, 'true blue conservatives' in Canada and pro-Trump conservatives in the U.S., are being silenced by the establishment voices,'' he said.
''Many grassroots Republicans and grassroots conservatives believe there is an ideological battle playing out between the grassroots vs. the establishment, and we all need to realize this fight will take time and determination. We do not need more bluster or confrontation; we need more commitment to conservative values.''
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