Much-diminished Tory caucus to take experience into Opposition

To the victor go the spoils, as the saying goes, and so does the attention. All political eyes have been on Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau since the commanding Liberal victory on election night.

Who will be in the inner circle of cabinet? What are his priorities for a Liberal government? Will they legalize pot? Rewrite the anti-terrorism bill? Withdraw Canada from the U.S.-led coalition strikes in Syria?

That’s not to mention the coast-to-coast coverage of the Star Wars family Halloween outing and international attention to Trudeau’s tattoos.

But what about the other, lesser winners?

Though reduced to official Opposition, the Conservatives will send 99 MPs to Ottawa when Parliament resumes in a few weeks.

Most will be familiar faces — at least 18 former cabinet ministers among at least 64 incumbent MPs re-elected who will have to get used to a new role in the House of Commons.

“Especially if you were a former minister, because you had huge power, and now you’re on the other side; that will be a big transition,” says Geneviève Tellier, a faculty member of the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa.

After the last election, the NDP took up the mantle of Official Opposition with a slew of new and inexperienced MPs — some who didn’t even expect themselves to win.

“I think it showed in Parliament, especially in the first two years,” Tellier says. “Now, with a more experienced Opposition I think they’re going to be able to work more quickly on many issues.”

The majority of the Tory caucus knows where the washrooms are and how Canada’s government operates.

“Some might not be pleased about the situation but they will know how to get around and know how to deal with several issues,” Tellier says.

Among the roughly three dozen newly minted Tory MPs, there is no shortage of political experience. The party drew heavily on former provincial and municipal politicians.

Rookie MPs to watch include former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts and former Alberta MLA Ron Liepert, who in eight years in the Alberta Conservative caucus served as minister of education, health, energy and finance.

Quebec MP Gérard Deltell was first elected provincially under the banner of the defunct Action démocratique du Québec and later as a member of the Coalition for Quebec’s Future. Other former Alberta MLAs now on the federal Opposition bench include Len Webber and Jim Eglinski.

The downside to an experienced Opposition team is the question of reviving Tory fortunes following the election night rebuke from voters.

How does the much-diminished Conservative caucus distance itself from outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper when 64 of his stalwarts are still at the table?

By choosing an interim leader, Tellier says. The Tory caucus is set to meet Wednesday and decide when and how it will do just that.

“I think the choice of a leader will set the tone in Opposition,” she says. “What kind of Opposition do they want to have – do they want to confront Justin Trudeau right away or do they want to wait a bit to see what kind of reforms he wants to do?”

There are eight contenders for the interim leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada and no shortage of advice from pundits on what went wrong for the last one.

But the Conservatives shouldn’t dwell on “post-defeat self-flagellation,” says Randall Denley, a strategic communications consultant and former Ontario Conservative candidate, writes in the Ottawa Citizen.

“There is no need for despair,” Denley writes. “The Conservatives are in pretty good shape. They retained almost all the vote support they received in the last election and still hold 99 seats in the House of Commons.”

Longtime Conservative strategist Geoff Norquay suggests that with the defeat of a “one-man campaign” – and along with it the campaign manager and her “acolytes” — the renewal has already begun.

The Tories “blew themselves up,” with a campaign of anger and fear, Norquay, former senior policy advisor to prime minister Brian Mulroney, writes in a campaign post-mortem in Policy Magazine.

“Theirs was a suspicious Canada and a Canada without dreams; they always preferred short-term tactics over a long-term vision. They never understood governing, so they saw no use for government,” he writes.

“Within the Conservative Party, great will be the celebration at their well-deserved and permanent riddance.”