While incumbent Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is an international political celebrity, the opponent who is threatening to displace him, Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, remains largely unknown, even within Canada.
However, as his party gains ground on the ruling Liberal Party, even leading in some polls to bag a large share of seats in the Federal elections scheduled for September 20, his profile has risen. More importantly for the relationship between Ottawa and New Delhi, which has suffered under Trudeau, O’Toole has a pro-India agenda as part of his platform.
Born in Montreal, the 48-year-old is behind a party platform calling for Canada to join the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), the bloc that includes India, the United States, Japan and Australia. In contrast, the Canadian government has yet to present an updated Indo-Pacific policy that has been expected for months. O’Toole also served in the Royal Canadian Air Force for 12 years and was first elected to the House of Commons in 2012.
Similarly, as negotiations for a free trade pact as well as an investment treaty with India haven’t progressed very far, O’Toole has promised to “pursue” these objectives. Both pacts were first proposed under the government of former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, Trudeau’s predecessor, and O’Toole had served as a veterans affairs minister in his cabinet.
That theme appeared in an op-ed O’Toole wrote for the Canadian daily, National Post, in March, in which he noted, “Canada needs an economic future that reduces our dependence on China’s industry and marketplace. We can only accomplish that by deepening ties with the world’s largest democracy, India.”
When Trudeau first became Prime Minister in 2015, the mandate letters for his finance minister as well as International Trade Minister included a focus on improving trade ties with India, but that has not come to fruition over the past six years. O’Toole, in the oped, said, “India is Canada’s tenth largest trading partner, but it has the potential to become our second. India’s economic transformation is under way, and it is one that should not only be applauded but supported.”
It’s still a difficult path for O’Toole to get the top job as Trudeau’s Liberals remain favourites to win the maximum seats and form another minority government, though the Conservatives have closed the gap over the past ten days. O’Toole became the leader of his party in an upset win over former attorney general Peter McKay in the leadership race last year, and the question will be whether he can repeat that feat again as an underdog in the Federal polls.
