Monday November 2, 2020 | NATIONAL
Editorial notes: by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
He rejoined the visible political spectrum for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race this year during the pandemic, but now Peter MacKay (who lost to Erin O’Toole for party leadership on August 23) has chosen today to announce that he is retreating back into the refuge of family and full-time job.
“After spending almost nine months as a leadership candidates in the middle of this pandemic, much of it away from my family and full time job, my focus must be to return to both,” said MacKay in the opening statement of his announcement today, November 2.
He also thanked his family for their support and also the people of the Central Nova riding who elected him to go to Ottawa to represent them six times over the 18 years he spent as their Member of Parliament.
Weight behind O’Toole:
MacKay says he has expressed to O’Toole his “ongoing commitment” to the Conservative Party of Canada, and that he will doing “everything I can to ensure that the next election results in a Conservative victory”.
The Conservatives won the popular vote in the October 2019 federal election but the Liberals won the most seats and carry a minority government for Canada at this time. The federal NDP effectively hold the balance of power at the moment when it comes to the left-of-center delivery of programs and services to Canadians.
Timing:
It’s unclear whether MacKay chose this moment for his announcement so it would be buried in the load of news about tomorrow’s United States presidential election (on top of the COVID news load) or whether he thought it would somehow rise to the surface as something different amidst the election/COVID news cycle.
Most likely, it was more an internal memo to the Conservative Party that he is not going to be stepping on O’Toole’s toes while still indicating that he’s a staunch and loyal party member. In politics there’s a saying that a politician can leave politics but that they’re never really gone.
