Fluency in French was one of the barriers preventing South Surrey-White Rock MP Dianne Watts from putting her name forward in the Canadian Conservative Party leadership election.
As the Opposition party leadership race draws to an end, Watts told Peace Arch News she’s throwing her support behind Durham, Ont. MP Erin O’Toole.
“He’s very solid, he has great ethics and he’s a good leader,” Watts said Thursday.
Asked if she thought about running for the leadership herself, she responded “Well, I’d have to learn how to be fluent in French first.”
“There’s a lot of French that’s spoken here,” she said in a phone call from Ottawa. “It’s interesting because of course when I go back to British Columbia there’s no French spoken. What you gain, you lose when you go back.”
Acknowledging there was some discussion on her leading the party, she said “that conversation was when the leadership kind of just kicked off. We’re well down the road for that, so I am supporting Erin O’Toole.”
There are 259,010 Conservative Party members eligible in the vote, which will be finalized a Conservative leadership event May 26-27 in Toronto.
Interim leader Rona Ambrose held the position since Nov. 25, 2015, but has recently announced she will be stepping away from politics after a new leader is decided.
