Erin O'Toole calls MacKay too weak to handle Liberals in blistering new attack ad

Conservative leadership candidate Erin O'Toole has launched a blistering attack on Peter MacKay, accusing the Nova Scotian of being too weak to handle the Liberal war room and the pressure of an election.

In a memo obtained by The Post Millennial, O'Toole's campaign manager Fred DeLorey said that MacKay is "weak" and "unable to withstand Liberal and media pressure."

"Just in the past few weeks he and his campaign have had to back down a number of times in the face of media criticism. During the debate over delaying the CPC leadership race, he couldn't handle even mildly critical media questions without losing his composure," added DeLorey.

The attack ad itself brings up MacKay's controversial history in the Harper government: "he appointed his close friends as judges in Nova Scotia," said the memo.

Going further still, the memo raised a 2011 report that showed "MacKay outranking almost every cabinet minister in travel spending. In 2014, he ignited a firestorm over sexist emails. In 2011 created more headaches for the government by the revelation that he ordered a search and rescue helicopter to pick him up from a fishing vacation."

The O'Toole campaign is seeking to remind Conservative members of MacKay's track record through these videos.

The video also touches on MacKay's controversial decision to try and speed up the Conservative leadership contest during the coronavirus lockdown, when other candidates was requesting that the party delay the contest.

"When premiers were locking down provinces and health officials were imploring people to stay home, Peter MacKay was actually calling on the CPC to speed up the leadership race, potentially endangering hundreds of volunteers and staff."

"The Liberals will never let Canadians forget that," the memo added. "If Peter MacKay is elected leader of the CPC, the next election is already lost."