OTTAWA, O.N. – M.P. Bob Zimmer says it’s time for the Conservative party to move forward following a vote to remove leader Erin O’Toole.
The party’s members of Parliament met virtually today to cast secret ballots after about one-third of them signed a notice that triggered a leadership review.
Ontario MP and national caucus chair Scott Reid said that 73 Conservative M.P.s voted to replace him while 45 endorsed him.
Zimmer, the Member of Parliament for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, said in a statement, “Now it is time for us to move forward, united. Later this evening our caucus will be choosing an interim leader who will serve until a new leader is elected by our Conservative Party membership.”
Also, adding that it’s never easy to lead a national party. “I want to thank Erin and his family for the years of public service they have given to Canadians. I am grateful for the opportunity he has given me as Shadow Minister for Northern Affairs and Arctic Sovereignty; Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. ”
Zimmer has not said whether he voted to remove O’Toole as the leader or not.
Conservative M.P.s must now choose who will serve as the party’s interim leader. New Brunswick MP John Williamson says he would like to have that job.
“I will respect my caucus colleagues. I will listen to our movement,” he wrote on social media moments after O’Toole lost the vote.
“I know how to keep us united around the things that matter most to us as Conservatives.”
The Reform Act, which has been in place since 2015, allows a party’s M.P.s to trigger a leadership review instead of waiting for the question to be put to the wider membership.
–With files from the Canadian Press
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