By Canadian Press

Erin O’Toole campaigned on a renewed, moderate Conservative party — but will it work?

Sep 20, 2021 | 7:20 PM

OSHAWA, Ont. — Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is waiting to see if his more moderate approach to issues like climate change, spending and abortion pays off with a victory over his Liberal foe.

The 48-year-old is watching the election results roll in at a hockey arena in Oshawa, Ont., after casting a ballot earlier Monday in his hometown of Bowmanville.

O’Toole and his family arrived at the viewing box as some early results rolled in from Atlantic Canada, including one significant upset in Nova Scotia. 

Liberals are leading in the region, electing several MPs, including Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan in Newfoundland and Dominic LeBlanc, who served as the minister for intergovernmental affairs, in New Brunswick.

Conservatives, meanwhile, can celebrate that they’ve defeated Bernadette Jordan, the Liberal fisheries minister, in Nova Scotia. 

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There, the Conservative campaign for Rick Peterson had been hoping that the anger and unrest caused between commercial fishers in the area and Indigenous fishers over the opening of a Mi’kmaq lobster fishery would swing voters their way. 

The Tories are also watching other close races in the region that could tip their way after O’Toole pushed a message of improving affordability and economic opportunities to residents who have struggled with a lack of jobs.

The Conservative leader has spent his last few campaign appearances leading to Monday’s vote asking supporters to come out and vote as polls have shown the two main parties as running neck-and-neck. 

Conservatives have been focused on growing their seat count, particularly in Ontario’s 905 region.

They have also targeted Quebec, where the party has struggled to gain major ground since it was formed.

“The maximum we’ve done in Quebec since the merger of the party was 12, so if we achieve that, or we surpass that, this is actually like something that was unprecedented,” said Marc-Olivier Fortin, the party’s campaign manager for Quebec. 

“We’d be happy with 11, 12, 13 — who knows.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2021.

Stephanie Taylor and Holly McKenzie-Sutter, The Canadian Press