Conservative leadership committee suspends race amid COVID-19 pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge in Canada and around the world, Conservative leadership candidate Peter MacKay stands alone among his competitors in insisting that the race to succeed Andrew Scheer should not be sidelined by the virus.
«Democracy doesn’t take a nap or doesn’t sleep, and just like the media who are continuing to cover this story, leaders of the opposition and members of the opposition have an important role to play to hold the government to account [and] to push forward with ideas, constructive ideas,» the former Conservative defence minister told CBC News Network’s Power & Politics.
MacKay pointed out to host Vassy Kapelos that Canada held elections during both world wars and the Great Depression, Canada held elections. He said that the U.S. Congress and U.K. Parliament are still in operation.
He said the Liberals recent attempt to get sweeping emergency tax-and-spend powers through the pandemic emergency stimulus bill this week demonstrated why a permanent leader of the opposition is needed.
- Analysis
The Conservative leadership race keeps on rolling — and MacKay is still in the driver’s seat
That attempt failed when the Conservative opposition, led by outgoing Conservative leader Scheer, refused to back the deal unless the control over the purse was limited in time through a sunset clause.
«Democracy demands that you have an effective, efficient and permanent leader of the Opposition,» MacKay said, pointing out that Democrats in the U.S. are continuing with their own leadership race.
MacKay was forced to defend his position after a number of posts on his Twitter feed Thursday pushed for the race to continue on schedule.
We cannot wait. We cannot delay the vote. <a href=»https://t.co/oCCDqOVnSE»>pic.twitter.com/oCCDqOVnSE</a>
—@PeterMacKay
