Conservative leadership hopeful Erin O’Toole says he will not move party to the middle

Conservative leadership candidate Erin O’Toole said he will not try and move to the middle in his campaign to succeed Andrew Scheer and will present a platform that sits well right of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

“We have to be conservative,” O’Toole told CBC News Network’s Power & Politics Tuesday. “I don’t think we go to the middle. I think that’s what another opponent in this race will be suggesting: we just go to the slight right of Justin Trudeau. 

“That’s not the answer for me. I think we need ideas for the future,” he told host Vassy Kapelos. 

O’Toole said that despite other declared candidates, such as Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu and former conservative cabinet minister Peter MacKay, the race to helm the Conservative Party of Canada is down to two people.