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‘Old’ was at the top of the list. Also near the top: ‘racist’

What we do know for certain is that in the 2019 election, the Conservative party won very few seats in the highly diverse Greater Toronto Area. Winning in this part of the country is critical for any party’s prospects for a parliamentary majority. And being irrelevant or ineffective in most Toronto area ridings is a sign that, at minimum, voters from minority groups aren’t being persuaded by status quo “ethnic” or “multicultural” outreach.

During the 2019 election, accusations of racism and white nationalist sympathies were levied against Conservatives by the Liberal party. Unsurprisingly, these accusations disappeared when Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was exposed as a blackface enthusiast. Still, the damage may have been done. Conservatives didn’t help themselves when they failed to challenge Quebec’s anti-religious freedom laws seen by many to target Muslims, Sikhs and Jews. The party also did little to reintroduce themselves to minority groups alienated by past campaigns.

Conservative leadership candidates should be reflecting on how and why the party has a racism stigma, but they haven’t been. Attention has instead gone toward attacking social conservatives. Indeed, as the party gears up for its 2020 leadership race, many in news media and on social media are arguing conservatives must mirror progressives by requiring leaders march in Pride parades and demanding homogenous personal views on abortion.