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Kyle Seeback ‘surprised’ by Conservative leadership vote

September 8, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Baker

Dufferin-Caledon MP Kyle Seeback admitted he was surprised by the results of last week’s Conservative leadership nomination, but vowed to work alongside the Party’s newest figurehead Erin O’Toole. 

Mr. Seeback was one of the first sitting MPs to throw his support behind Peter MacKay, when the former deputy leader of the Party declared he would be running for leadership on Jan. 15. Following a months-long campaign, it was Durham MP Mr. O’Toole who emerged victorious on Aug. 23 in a shock result that saw him take 57 percent of the approximately 175,000 votes on the third and final ballot, compared to 43 percent for second-place Mr. MacKay.

The race was decided using a ranked ballot system, which saw voters rank their preferred candidate from one to four. Toronto laywer Leslyn Lewis and one-term MP Derek Sloan were the other leadership contenders.

“I knew Peter had to be over 40 percent on the first ballot to have a good chance of winning. I, personally, thought he had to be at around 42 percent after the first count, so when we came in way below that (34 percent), I was quite sure he wasn’t going to be able to win,” Mr. Seeback said. 

When asked what, he felt, propelled Mr. O’Toole to a seemingly unlikely victory, Mr. Seeback pointed towards his impressive performance in two traditional Conservative strongholds.

“Erin did very well in Quebec and Alberta,” Mr. Seeback said. “We knew Peter had to do well in Quebec, and unfortunately the exact opposite happened. Erin did very well in Quebec, and that was able to propel him to such strong numbers on that first ballot.”

Mr. Seeback has already been in touch with the Conservative Party’s new leader, and hopes to discuss many of the issues important to him, and his constituents, when the Tory caucus gathers for its first meeting under new leadership next week. Somewhere near the top of the bill will be talks about improving high-speed internet options for rural residents, not only in Dufferin County and Caledon, but across the country.

Having worked hard on that particular file since assuming office last year, Mr. Seeback is hopeful the Conservatives, under Mr. O’Toole, will make bolstering internet services nationwide a priority moving forward. 

The most important thing for the Conservatives though, Mr. Seeback says, will be putting together a plan to defeat Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the next federal election, which many experts believe will be called before the pre-set date of Oct. 16, 2023. With that in mind, our local MP is eager to see how Mr. O’Toole intends to unite a fractured Conservative Party over the coming months. 

“Erin has to define himself outside the confines of the Conservative leadership race. I think he took a great step forward on that with his acceptance speech, which was magnanimous, and very welcoming to Canadians who want to take a look at the Conservative Party,” Mr. Seeback said. “I think that was a great first step, and now Erin has to define his version of Conservatism – one that will speak broadly to Canadians from coast, to coast, to coast.”

Parliament will resume from a summer-long shutdown on Sept. 23, and Mr. Seeback feels there are some benefits to having a leader who will be amongst the Conservative caucus. Although he was the favourite heading into the leadership vote, Peter MacKay is not a sitting MP. He stepped away from the federal political arena in 2015. 

Locally, Mr. Seeback has been busy over the past few weeks discussing a variety of issues with local residents. He held a virtual town hall meeting for residents in the Mayfield West area of Caledon last week, where he talked about the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the summer prorogation of government, and the ongoing We charity scandal involving Prime Minister Trudeau. He also spent time discussing wider federal topics, such as immigration and the temporary foreign worker program. 

Mr. Seeback hosted another town hall meeting on Wednesday (Sept. 2) for Orangeville residents. 

“Generally, how I try and do my town halls, is allow my residents to take the agenda. I don’t have a long speech to give – generally I welcome people, and go from there,” Mr. Seeback said. “One thing I have done is try to get some of our municipal leaders involved. Sandy Brown (joined) me for (last night’s meeting). For last week’s virtual meeting for Mayfield West residents, I had Caledon Ward 2 Coun. Christina Early on the call. Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson joined me at my town hall in Bolton earlier this year.”

He added, “This is a great way for residents to get information on their different levels of government, and let me know about the issues and things that are important to them that I can take to Ottawa (and advocate) for.”


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