Federal Conservative Leader, Erin O'Toole. (File Photo by Mark Brown, Blackburn News)Federal Conservative Leader, Erin O'Toole. (File Photo by Mark Brown, Blackburn News)
Midwestern

Conservative leader signals he would like to stay on at the helm

Despite his party losing two seats in Monday's federal election, Conservative leader Erin O'Toole is signaling he would like to stay at the helm.

"Our caucus is strengthened by new members from Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia," said O'Toole.

O'Toole says while they made those gains he's ultimately disappointed in Monday's result.

"We had a pandemic election that really produced no change, it cost the country $600 million, and further divided this country," added O'Toole. "So we are going to work together to undertake what went right, what went wrong and build trust with Canadians."

He did point out that in 30 ridings the Conservatives came within 2,000 votes of the Liberals.

In total, the Conservatives unofficially captured 119 seats and 33.86 percent of the vote. The Liberals have the minority government with 158 seats. Round out the numbers, the Bloc Quebecois captured 34 seats, the NDP 25 and the Green Party two.

Locally, all three ridings were easily held by the Conservatives. Those being Huron-Bruce, Perth-Wellington and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound.

--with files from Steve Sabourin

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