August 24, 2020

Conservative Leader Erin O’toole’s victory speech

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What an honour. Thank you so much.

Thank you to my friends – Leslyn Lewis,
Derek Sloan, and of course to the
Honourable Peter MacKay.

Thank you for stepping up for our country.
Congratulations for the campaigns you
have run, for the ideas you have put
forward, and for the Canadians you have
recruited to our cause.

Thank you for putting your name on the
ballot. For leaving your families for weeks to
travel all over this great country – whether
on the ground or in a room of your house
on hours of Zoom calls.

Thank you for talking to Canadians about
our country, our party and ideas for a
stronger future.

Thank you for valuing the grassroots
members of our movement.

I want to thank my incredible campaign
team from coast to coast to coast! We
have built an incredible team of passionate
and patriotic Canadians. Your hard work led
to this victory.

I also want to thank the volunteers for
Peter, Leslyn and Derek. You worked
incredibly hard and I look forward to all of
us working together to build a stronger
country with more opportunity for our
children and grandchildren.

I would also like to thank Andrew and Jill
Scheer and your family for your service and
dedication to our party and our country. We
will continue to work together for
Canadians.

And of course I want to thank my wife,
Rebecca, our children Mollie and Jack and
all of my family and friends here tonight or
watching at home for your love, advice and
patience these nine months.

Most of all, thank you to the tens of
thousands of Canadians from coast to
coast to coast who voted for me.

You put your faith in me to lead this historic
party and I am honoured and humbled. I
promise you, I will not let you down.

Today, you have given me a clear mission:
To unite our party.
To champion our conservative principles.
To show Canadians what we know so well
– that Justin Trudeau and his team are
failing our great country.
We must continue to point out Liberal
failings and corruption BUT we also must
show Canadians our vision for a stronger,
prosperous and more united Canada.
Canada can – and must – do better and
Conservatives will work hard to earn the
trust and confidence of Canadians in the
next election.

Friends, now the real work begins. We
could be into an election campaign as soon
as this fall. But as more than 260,000
passionate Conservatives have already
shown in this record breaking leadership
amidst a pandemic – the Conservative Party
will be ready for the next election. And we
will win the next election.

To the millions of Canadians that I am
meeting tonight for the first time…

Hello, I’m Erin O’Toole….
You are going to be seeing and hearing a
lot from me in the coming weeks. I want you
to know that I am here to fight for you and
your families.

Like millions of Canadians, Rebecca and I
have been juggling a lot of jobs lately. With
our kids at home, COVID has made us
appreciate teachers more than ever before.

My mother, who passed away when I was
9, was a teacher. And, throughout my life, I
have wished she was here to give me
advice. Right now, I wish she were here to
see her child succeed. But, I know she is
here tonight because I can see her in my
daughter who shares her name.

Thankfully, I have had my stepmother – also
a teacher – to guide me to this very day. I
am thankful she and my Dad are here with
me tonight. My father John, inspired me into
public service.

But like many teenagers, especially those
who have lost a parent, I gave my dad a
hard time growing up.
He worked at General Motors for over 30
years, which brought us from Ste. Therese
QC to Bowmanville, Ontario – to my home
in the Toronto area.

After high school I joined the military to gain
discipline and to serve the country. It
deepened my love for Canada and defines
who I am today.

I served as a navigator on Sea King
helicopters and sailed with our Navy out of
Halifax. It was in Halifax where I met
Rebecca, the love of my life.

Today, Rebecca and I are both navigating
raising our amazing children Mollie and
Jack – and 5 days ago we celebrated 20
years of marriage…

I have spent my entire adult life trying to
serve Canada and its people. Soon, I will
be asking Canadians for the chance to
serve as Prime Minister so we can get our
country back on track. I love this country
and I am very worried about the course we
are on.

When I launched my campaign in Calgary
in January, I said that the stakes were high.

They are even higher today.

Our country is currently facing its most
serious economic challenges since the
Great Depression. Capital and jobs have
been leaving Canada and large deficits
were being run BEFORE the COVID crisis
led to record debt and deficits.

Our country is more divided than it has ever
been in my lifetime. People are losing faith
in Canada because of the ideological and
out of touch policies from the Liberals.

We just emerged from the largest health
crisis in our history.

Premiers across our country have shown
real leadership amid the COVID-19 crisis.
They were looking out for you. Justin
Trudeau, Bill Morneau and the Liberals
showed – once again – that even amid a
national crisis – they were more interested
in looking after their friends.

We can rebuild our great country – while
protecting Canadians from the ongoing
threat of COVID-19.

We can get Canadians back to work, be
proud of the things we grow, build and
produce in Canada again. We must have a
government that will keep us safe, and
ensure that we are never ill-prepared again.

To do that, we need a leader with real-world
experience and someone who is not afraid
to make the tough decisions.

A leader who cares more about keeping
Canadians safe and united than about his
personal image and the interests of his
friends.

We need a leader who puts Canadians first
and will stand up for Canada and our
interests in a challenging world where we
have lost the respect of our friends and
allies.

The world still needs more Canada, it just
needs less Justin Trudeau.

Why should I be that leader?

Because I believe that:
Whether you are black, white, brown or
from any race or creed.
Whether you are LGBT or straight.
Whether you are an Indigenous Canadian
or have joined the Canadian family 5 weeks
ago or 5 generations ago.
Whether you are doing well, or barely
getting by.
Whether you worship on Fridays,
Saturdays, Sundays, or not at all.
You are an important part of Canada and
you have a home in the Conservative Party
of Canada!

Maybe you have voted for a different party
your whole life, or have never voted at all.
Maybe you feel that as a union member you
should not vote for our party.

Maybe you feel let down by politicians.
Maybe your family came here for “better”
but you are still waiting for “fair” treatment.
Maybe you run a small business and work
all day only to be called a tax cheat by your
government.

It is time for many Liberal and NDP voters
to socially distance themselves from these
out of touch parties.

Its time for more Canadians to look at the
Conservative Party again.

If you want the opportunity to work hard to
provide for your family – you should be
voting Conservative.

If you want to stop insiders getting ahead
while you are falling back – you should be
voting Conservative.

If you are proud of what we produce in this
country – whether it is the resources in the
ground or the ideas in our heads – you
should be voting Conservative.

And if you believe deeply – like I do – that
the Canadian Ethics Commissioner needs
to stop working overtime – you should be
voting Conservative!

Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh claim to
stand up for working families, but they fail
them time and time again.

Canada needs serious leadership for these
challenging times.

To keep Canadians safe and prepared for
the future.

To rebuild our economy.

To navigate our way out of record Liberal
deficits before they put our social programs
at risk.

To ensure that we rebuild stronger, more
self-reliant, and more resilient, so we are
better prepared for future waves of COVID-
19 and other threats.

To restore Canada’s place in a tough world,
earning back the respect that Trudeau has
lost on the world stage.

That is what Conservatives stand for.
Doing what is right even when it is not what
is easy. That is what Canadians stand for.

Its the same sense of duty that kept our
healthcare workers and PSWs helping our
sick in the early weeks of the pandemic
when they were worried about risks to
themselves and their families.

That same feeling when a family helps
newcomers to Canada by opening up their
own home and letting them get their start
with help from family or friends in their
community even when it makes things
challenging.

That same feeling our soldiers must have
felt at the bottom of Vimy Ridge more than
a century ago.

It’s a belief in what Canada can be.

It’s a belief in the hope and opportunity that
Canada represents.

My fellow Canadians.

My name is Erin O’Toole.

I believe in this country and I am running to
serve you as Prime Minister.

 

 




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