Erin Michael O’Toole, born on January 22, 1973, is a Canadian politician who has led the Conservative Party of Canada as Leader of the Official Opposition since August 24, 2020. Even before being elected Member of Parliament for Durham, Ontario, Erin O’Toole served in the Royal Canadian Air Force then worked as a corporate lawyer. From 2015 to 2019, he was the Minister of Veterans Affairs.
Early years
Erin O’Toole is the oldest child among 4 others who was born in Montreal. His family had moved to Port Perry, Ontario, while he was one year old, and he attended elementary school there. While he was nine years old, his mother died of breast cancer. His family relocated again dianabol orale soon after, this time to Bowmanville, where he attended Bowmanville High School.
Education & Military service
O’Toole attended the Royal Military College in Kingston when he was 18 years old. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a commissioned officer after finishing with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science in 1995. He received his wings in Winnipeg after serving in Trenton. Following that, he was assigned to 12 Wing in Shearwater, Nova Scotia. He was a tactical navigator onboard CH-124 Sea King helicopters while serving with 423 Squadron. (For more information, see Military Aviation.) On the frigate HMCS St. John’s, he flew search and rescue missions and assisted the Royal Canadian Navy with maritime surveillance and anti-submarine duty.
O’Toole moved to the Reserve Force for three years after rising to the rank of captain in 2000. He received his law degree at Dalhousie University while serving as a training officer with 406 Squadron. He ended up marrying his wife, Rebecca, in Halifax. Mollie and Jack are their two children.
Legal Career
Following his graduation from law school in 2003, O’Toole and his family relocated to Toronto, where he practiced corporate law. Before joining Heenan Blaikie, he worked at the large firm Stikeman Elliott and Procter & Gamble. He was in charge of litigation and provided advice to upper management on commercial, competition, and environmental matters.
Economic Recovery
Winding down emergency support, improving the economy, concentrating on small businesses, and researching ways to expand health insurance to reach more Canadians are among O’Toole’s strategies for recovering from the pandemic-induced recession. Families are also a priority of O’Toole’s plans, as he recognizes that those with small children have been disproportionately affected. He will extend the existing one-time increase in the Canada Child Benefit only until the end of 2021, as well as make adjustments to the Child Care Expense Deduction, increasing the current cap and making up to $16,000 available for a refundable tax credit.
Kelsie Chiasson, O’Toole’s acting director of communications, told Chatelaine that further programs to help women during the pandemic will be announced soon.
LGBTQ+ rights
O’Toole specifically welcomed members of the LGBTQ+ community to join the group in his acceptance speech. However, there are representatives of his caucus that have created anti-LGBTQ+ remarks in the past and, in the case of Derek Sloan, very late. According to O’Toole’s campaign, he has a “strong track record” of supporting LGBTQ+ rights, and voting in favor of a transgender rights bill in 2013. He will march in Pride parades (unless police are invited) unlike Andrew Scheer, who has said he won’t and has started drafting proposals like lifting the ban on gay men donating blood (something Justin Trudeau made sure to do back in June).
Women’s leadership within the Conservative Party being supported
The Conservative Party has a tradition of high-profile women leaders, including temporary leader Rona Ambrose in 2016/2017 and Canada’s first female Prime Minister, Kim Campbell. Leslyn Lewis, just one woman running for Conservative Party leader in 2020, had solid support going into the second round, despite her relative infamy. Women make up 18% of elected Conservative MPs, even though women made up a record proportion of women elected to Parliament in 2019. O’Toole is off to a strong start, appointing Candice Bergen as deputy leader and Tausha Michaud as chief of staff, and assigning Janet Fryday-Dorey as executive director of the group, which oversees day-to-day party operations.
COVID-19
O’Toole supports a quicker COVID-19 testing phase, citing the hours he waited for a test in Ottawa. He has urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to implement testing options that enable people to be screened easily and at home. Alberta’s pandemic approach, which was less stringent and also included testing at pharmacies, was lauded by O’Toole in October 2020. He said that the other provinces were less affected by the pandemic.
According to O’Toole, if Canada does not provide rapid testing or a vaccine, the economy would be unpredictable. When a vaccine was about to be distributed, he chastised the government for not being able to produce vaccine doses as easily as other countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. After a failed collaboration with a Chinese firm, he said, Canada concentrated solely on pre-ordering vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Following vaccine-related anxiety, O’Toole suggested that the government make its vaccine rollout initiatives clearer.
Public service
His grandfathers, who have both served in WWII, and also his mother’s work with Vietnamese refugees, inculcated in O’Toole a sense of the importance of public service. In 1995, O’Toole aided his father, John, in his strong run for Durham, Ontario’s Part of Provincial Parliament. For 19 years, John O’Toole sat in the seat.
He volunteered with the Royal Canadian Legion as well as the Rotary Club while serving in corporate law. He was a member of the Royal Military College’s board of governors, co-founder of the Clarington Youth and Community Leadership Dinner, and a fundraiser for African school construction. He also served as co-chair of the River Runs Through Us initiative, which aimed to preserve aquatic life and create a conservation area along Bowmanville Creek. He was a founding member of the True Patriot Love Foundation, which raised funds of millions for veterans and their families. In addition, he was the chairman of the Churchill Society, which promoted parliamentary democracy educational programs. He was an envoy with the Vimy Foundation, which helped celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, also led the initiative to establish a monument to Canadians who died working in Afghanistan.
Net worth
In the years from 2019 to 2020, his net worth had increased quite a lot. So, at the age of 47, how much is Erin O’Toole’ worth? Erin O’Toole makes the majority of her money successful. His net worth is estimated to be between 1 Million dollars to 5 Million dollars as of the end of last year.
