96 Facts About Erin O'Toole

Erin O'Toole joined the military in 1991 and studied at the Royal Military College until 1995.

Erin O'Toole was commissioned in Air Command, serving as an air navigator, eventually attaining the rank of captain.

In 2015, Erin O'Toole briefly served as veterans affairs minister in the Harper government.

Erin O'Toole lost the 2021 federal election to the Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with the Conservatives winning the same number of seats as they held before the election.

Erin O'Toole was born in Montreal, Quebec, on January 22,1973, the son of Mollie and John Erin O'Toole, who served as the member of Provincial Parliament for Durham in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario between 1995 and 2014.

In 1991, Erin O'Toole joined the military, enrolling at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.

Erin O'Toole graduated with an honours Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science in 1995.

Erin O'Toole was first posted to Trenton, Ontario, where he was involved in search and rescue operations.

Erin O'Toole spent time at 17 Wing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he completed his training as an air navigator.

In 1997, Erin O'Toole was posted to 12 Wing in Shearwater, Nova Scotia.

In 2000, Erin O'Toole completed his active service in the military.

Erin O'Toole transferred to the reserves, working as a training officer running flight simulators, while he pursued a law degree.

Erin O'Toole received the Canadian Forces' Decoration for 12 years of service to Canada.

Erin O'Toole graduated from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University with a law degree in 2003.

Erin O'Toole returned to Ontario where he articled at, and later became a lawyer with, Stikeman Elliott, a business law firm in Toronto.

Erin O'Toole acted as corporate counsel for Gillette, provided commercial and regulatory law advice, was counsel on issues relating to legislation, and investigated counterfeiting operations.

In 2011, Erin O'Toole joined the law firm Heenan Blaikie, where he was a registered lobbyist for Facebook, Inc.

In 2014, Erin O'Toole partnered with Senator Romeo Dallaire to host the first Samuel Sharpe Memorial Breakfast, in honour of former soldier and MP Samuel Simpson Sharpe.

In May 2018, Erin O'Toole introduced a motion to install a plaque commemorating Sharpe on Parliament Hill, which passed unanimously.

Erin O'Toole prioritized repairing relations with veterans and addressing the complaints Canadian veterans had with Fantino.

Erin O'Toole announced that he would seek the interim leadership of the Conservative Party.

On October 14,2016, Erin O'Toole announced his candidacy for the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election.

Erin O'Toole ran a positive campaign and avoided personally attacking other candidates during the campaign, arguing that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau does not own optimism.

Erin O'Toole received endorsements from 31 MPs, 12 former MPs, and 17 provincial politicians.

Erin O'Toole finished in third place, behind Maxime Bernier and the eventual winner Andrew Scheer.

Erin O'Toole ultimately passed on the opportunity, instead supporting Christine Elliott.

Erin O'Toole announced that he would seek the leadership of the Conservative Party in late January 2020.

Erin O'Toole's tone was angrier this time than during his first leadership run, which he stated was due to his increasing worry about the country after five years under a Trudeau government.

Erin O'Toole believed that his status as an MP would allow him to hold Trudeau accountable as soon as he became leader.

Erin O'Toole won the leadership election after three rounds were counted, replacing Andrew Scheer.

Erin O'Toole's victory was attributed partially to his pitch to socially conservative voters including supporters of candidates Derek Sloan and Leslyn Lewis to mark him as their second or third choice.

Erin O'Toole generally performed better in Conservative- and Bloc Quebecois-held ridings, in rural areas, and in areas with fewer visible minorities.

Shortly after becoming leader, O'Toole said that triggering a fall election was not his priority and he preferred to focus instead on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and finding jobs for the unemployed.

Erin O'Toole reaffirmed his position in December 2020, stating that an election should not take place until after the pandemic had ended.

Erin O'Toole revealed his Shadow Cabinet the following week, with most roles changing from the previous Scheer-led one.

Erin O'Toole has praised Alberta's pandemic response for allowing testing at pharmacies and being less restrictive than other provinces.

Erin O'Toole called for more transparency regarding the vaccine rollout plan and stated that Canada only focused on preordering vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna after a partnership with a Chinese company failed.

Erin O'Toole softened his rhetoric, presenting himself as moderate to counter accusations from opponents that he was trying to market to the far-right.

Erin O'Toole later acknowledged such party criticism, though he continued said approach, stating the party must have "the courage to change" and attract new voters in order to win against the Liberals.

Erin O'Toole lost the election to Trudeau, who won another minority government, though he won his riding of Durham and a plurality of the popular vote.

Erin O'Toole stated on election night that he would stay on as leader.

Shortly after the election, the party became divided on whether or not Erin O'Toole should stay on as leader of the party.

On February 2,2022, Erin O'Toole was ousted as leader in a vote by Conservative MPs according to the terms of the Reform Act.

In 2022, Erin O'Toole expressed his belief that Chinese interference had played a role in the Conservative Party's loss during the 2021 Canadian federal election in an interview with Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith on Smith's UnCommons podcast.

On March 31,2023, Erin O'Toole announced he would not seek re-election and would resign at the end of the parliamentary spring session.

Erin O'Toole was succeeded by Conservative Jamil Jivani in March 2024.

Erin O'Toole has been described as tending to be one of the more moderate members of his party.

Erin O'Toole has stated that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government should only spend what is necessary to help Canadians and balance the budget gradually over the next decade.

Erin O'Toole is against a national childcare program, saying that he prefers giving families more childcare options rather than one federal one.

Erin O'Toole opposes a national pharmacare program, saying that the government should not replace billions already spent by insurance companies.

Erin O'Toole wants to reduce and simplify taxes, arguing that a complicated tax system benefits the wealthy, who can afford to find loopholes.

Erin O'Toole supports modifying Canada's equalization and fiscal stabilization systems, which he argues are presently unfair to Alberta.

Erin O'Toole has called for an incentive to reduce employment insurance premiums that small and medium-sized businesses pay for new employees.

Erin O'Toole supports reviewing the mandate for the CBC's English digital and television operations, possibly converting it into a PBS-style public interest model to ensure it does not compete with the private sector.

Erin O'Toole argues the current competition with the private sector hurts other media companies, which is why he believes the $600-million print media bailout package would no longer be needed.

Erin O'Toole previously supported defunding these, being a major part of his 2020 Conservative leadership platform and popular with Conservative voters.

Erin O'Toole supports banning foreign investors from buying Canadian homes for at least two years.

On illegal immigration, O'Toole supports creating a joint operation with the United States to stop asylum seekers from entering Canada illegally.

Erin O'Toole supports decentralizing the federal government's power in Quebec, having stated he is open to giving the province increased powers over immigration and opposing federal intervention to stop the Quebec ban on religious symbols, arguing that the independence of Quebec's legislature should be protected.

Erin O'Toole believes that large, federally regulated companies should be required to adhere to Quebec's Charter of the French Language.

Erin O'Toole had previously opposed the removal of a statue of Macdonald from Victoria's City Hall.

In November 2020, Erin O'Toole gave a speech to young Conservative Party members at Ryerson University defending the university's namesake Egerton Ryerson.

Erin O'Toole promised to launch a royal commission on the issue within 100 days of taking office and said the "big government" strategy failed Canadians.

Erin O'Toole has proposed converting the existing child care expense deduction to a refundable tax credit.

Erin O'Toole supported extending Employment Insurance for workers after the Canada Emergency Response Benefit ran out in summer 2021.

Erin O'Toole believes the CERB should have been used more effectively by the government and focused on sectors hit hardest by the pandemic.

Erin O'Toole proposed expanding the emergency loan program for businesses and temporarily amending bankruptcy laws to make company restructuring easier.

Erin O'Toole believes a lack of unions gives too much power to corporate elites, who he has said would be "too happy to outsource jobs abroad".

On carbon pricing, Erin O'Toole would create an alternative system in addition to the current federal carbon tax for consumers which would put a surcharge on carbon into a "low carbon savings account", a tax-free savings account to be used on purchases to make consumers more environmentally friendly.

The surcharge Erin O'Toole proposes is lower than that of the Trudeau government and Erin O'Toole plans to offset that by other measures such as requiring 30 percent of light vehicles to be free of pollutants by 2030.

Erin O'Toole has said climate change is a global problem which requires a global solution.

Erin O'Toole committed to meeting Canada's Paris Agreement targets and has said he will partner with the provinces to do so.

Erin O'Toole supports ending Canada's energy imports from outside North America.

Erin O'Toole opposes the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act.

Erin O'Toole would introduce a National Strategic Pipelines Act to speed up approvals of pipelines deemed to be in Canada's national interest and repeal the related legislation introduced by the Trudeau government.

On March 20,2021, Erin O'Toole attempted to convince members to support a more serious agenda aimed at curbing climate change, saying that he did not want his candidates to be labelled as climate change deniers.

Erin O'Toole is pro-choice on the matter of abortion, opposing legal restrictions on the practice, though he would hold free votes on bills related to abortion and other social issues.

Erin O'Toole voted against bill C-14, which made euthanasia legal, saying he continued to have concerns about it and would prefer resources be focused on palliative care.

Erin O'Toole initially pledged to repeal all gun law changes made by the Trudeau government, though he later stated that the firearms banned in May 2020 would remain banned.

Erin O'Toole opposes harsh punishments for drug offences, instead supporting treating drug addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal issue.

Erin O'Toole has criticized Liberals for being too friendly with dictatorships and paying too much attention to the UN.

McKenna noted that Erin O'Toole wants Canada to advocate for human rights internationally and will remove funding from UN agencies which he believes have failed from a corruption and human rights standpoint.

Erin O'Toole opposes cutting Canada's foreign aid budget though he has said he would look to fund programs leading to measurable outcomes similar to prior Conservative policies.

Erin O'Toole has spoken out against the Chinese government, singling it out as a bad actor on the international stage.

Erin O'Toole says there is a "growing influence of Chinese agents" in Canada meant to push Chinese propaganda and to intimidate Canadians.

Erin O'Toole supports passing a law similar to the Australian foreign interference law.

Erin O'Toole has proposed tightening up foreign investment groups to deter state-owned companies from non-free countries from buying Canadian resources and companies unless there is a compelling reason to approve.

Erin O'Toole opposes China's treatment of Uyghurs, saying that the 2022 Winter Olympics should be relocated from Beijing owing to concerns that the Chinese government is committing genocide against Uyghurs.

Erin O'Toole has come out in support of the Trump administration's hard-line approach to China.

Erin O'Toole supports banning Huawei from Canada's 5G networks, stating China controls the company and has stolen technology from Nortel, a defunct Canadian company.

Erin O'Toole would give other providers tax credits to replace their infrastructure and apply pressure to other countries to stop allowing Chinese state-owned companies from accessing their markets and has called on the Trudeau government to expedite entry of political refugees fleeing Hong Kong.

Erin O'Toole met his wife Rebecca in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1998, and they married in 2000.

Erin O'Toole founded True Patriot Love, a nonprofit supporting veterans, members of the military, and their families.

In September 2020, Erin O'Toole tested positive for COVID-19, after a staffer in his office tested positive.

In 2012, O'Toole was awarded the Christopher J Coulter Young Alumnus Award by Dalhousie University, for his achievements and dedication to community service.

Also in 2012, Erin O'Toole received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.