A Progressive Conservative MPP in Ontario has created a campaign to make the federal Conservative party more “socially moderate.”
Roman Baber, MPP for York Centre, launched the Modern Conservative campaign on Friday.
“The @CPC_HQ is out of touch with Canadians. It’s time for a #FreshModernCPC!” Baber tweeted.
The Modern Conservative campaign infers that the Conservative Party of Canada does not resonate with minorities, suggesting that becoming more socially progressive will lead the party to electoral success.
“The purpose of the Modern Conservative movement is to build a fiscally conservative but socially moderate Conservative Party of Canada. A must for winning a national election!”, a statement from the group says.
The organization’s website claims it wants to create “a modern Conservative Party that speaks to all Canadians, including Millennial, Women, LGBTQ+ and Urban Voters.”
Modern Conservative is encouraging individuals to buy Conservative memberships, ahead of the party’s convention in April 2020, to become voting delegates.
In the October federal election, the Conservative Party of Canada won the most votes out of all the parties, but the Liberals still won the most seats.
While making gains in western Canada, the Conservatives failed to pick up any new seats in the GTA, where Baber’s riding is.
In Baber’s riding of York Centre, 50% of voters voted Progressive Conservative in 2018. In October’s federal election only 36.6% voted Conservative.
In the recent federal election, 32% of Conservative candidates were women and 15% were visible minorities. According to an analysis by the Canadian Press, about 15% of candidates for the country’s six major parties are visible minorities.
Four Conservative candidates self-identified as part of the LGBT community.
True North reached out to Modern Conservative and Roman Baber but has not received a response.
