Article content

CALGARY — Erin O’Toole, a former Canadian Armed Forces airman, entered the Conservative leadership race on Monday taking a shot at one of his main rivals.

O’Toole positioned himself as a true Conservative compared to Peter MacKay, who he said will turn the Tories into a “Liberal-party lite.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Erin O’Toole warns that Peter MacKay would turn Conservatives into ‘Liberal party lite’ Back to video

“That’s not how we will win,” O’Toole said in an interview.

O’Toole announced he was entering the race on Monday by video, joining up as a presumptive front-runner alongside MacKay, a former Nova Scotia MP. While describing MacKay as a friend, O’Toole attacked the former cabinet minister’s politics, saying he’d make the Conservative Party of Canada more centrist as a member of the “left side” of the Tory movement.

In a party that’s been fractured over its identity — there has already been controversy over the role of social conservatism — O’Toole is billing himself as a “true blue” conservative.