By Cheryl Jahn

Two parties leaderless

Feb 3, 2022 | 3:49 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Less than two years after winning the leadership race to head the Conservative Party of Canada, Erin O’Toole was ousted from the job. It plunges the party into its third leadership contest since Stephen Harper stepped down in 2015.

Meanwhile, BC Liberal faithful will elect a new leader this weekend. That race has been underway since former leader Andrew Wilkinson stepped down.

Both parties are coalitions of the centre and right. Does that make choosing a leader challenging?

“I think the challenge is to find a leader who can win, especially now for centre-right parties like the federal Conservative Party and the BC Liberal Party,” says Chris Beach, Political Analyst, who adds both parties struggle where the Canadian political leanings tend to be more progressive.

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Former BC Liberal MLA, Mary Polak is no stranger to politics, having served in several ministries until 2017.

“We can think of all different kinds of leaders with very different personalities, very different styles and yet accomplish some great things. Just take a look at BC’s recent history. Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark were two very different people. And yet, they took the party to significant successes.”

She says a leader can weather any storm if they have respect and credibility.

The BC Liberals went into re-build mode after an abysmal showing in the last provincial election, especially in the progressive urban centres. And Beach says the federal Conservatives are in a similar boat.

“The Conservative Party right now is at a crossroads,” he says. “They elected a leader who clearly attempted to bring the party to the centre, where mainstream voters are in places like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. And that’s where the Conservative Party, or any party seeks to win a minority or a majority government, they need to win. And that’s where the Conservatives didn’t in the last election.”

Manitoba MP Candace Bergen has been chosen to be the interim leader of the party. The timeline of an upcoming leadership race is still unknown at this point.