(Canadian Press) Candidate controversies over vaccines and Islamophobia dogged Erin O’Toole’s campaign Saturday as the Conservative leader made his pitch to residents in the Greater Toronto Area, a vote-rich region crucial to the outcome of the federal election on Sept. 20.
The GTA sprawls across more than 50 ridings, the vast majority of which are held by Liberals, including all 25 seats in Toronto proper.
But O’Toole has suburban and exurban voters in his sights as he aims to boost the Conservative share of the vote in the broader region.
The party won a majority of seats there 10 years ago, but lost out to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in 2015 and saw its vote share drop another five points under then-leader Andrew Scheer in 2019.
