Only party without vax mandate. And there’s no discernible difference between cpc and lpc anymore.
The discernable difference is competence.
With respect to Victoria, I think the anti-Trudeau vote went largely to the NDP - and that the Conservatives were unable to capture a large enough share of the anti-Trudeau and anti-TV vote, in large part because of a less than competitive candidate and a few serious stumbles along the campaign trail - notably childcare, gun control and the Alberta COVID crisis. There are large chunks of Victoria who would label themselves as "Never Conservative" voters, while there aren't yet a lot of people who would label themselves "Never Liberal" voters. The hard work is in converting those "never conservative" voters into maybe conservative voters.
I think the vaccination issue is far more nuanced than it first appears and that there is a balance to be had between the right to make a medical decision for oneself (*note - should be done with informed consent and high quality information from qualified sources), and the public health need to have high levels of COVID protection. There are effective measures that can be taken that are alternatives to vaccination - we've been undertaking them for over a year (physical distancing, limited group size, masking, hand sanitation, physical barriers, contact tracing). Vaccination verification (passports) assists in implementing those measures accordingly- and puts some activities (generally considered non-essential) as off limits for those who are not vaccinated. However, more may need to be done that falls short of vaccines being mandatory - such as implementing a surcharge tax on those who remain unvaccinated (similar to how cigarettes or alcohol are taxed because of their toll on the health system). If herd immunity is reached, some of those measures might be able to be safely scaled back. It was a wedge issue - and one where O'Toole could have distinguished himself as being able to balance COVID safety with personal rights.
On the issue of guns - again O'Toole should have distinguished himself and should have clearly articulated that strong gun control is an important part of mitigating gun violence. That gun ownership comes with responsibilities, that gun owners understand and respect that, and that specific kinds of guns would remain banned. He should have also clearly articulated which guns included in the ban that would be legal again (and under what circumstances), the reasons for exempting those guns from the ban, and the measures that would be taken to ensure that those guns were used in the appropriate context. Then he could have distinguished himself by making it clear, that gun control alone doesn't do enough, as has been demonstrated on our streets, and that to combat gun violence, we need to do more to limit the importation of illegal guns and we need to make their use in crimes carry additional penalties.
On childcare - there's a lot that needs to be said on this issue. I think the $10/day plan isn't as good as it is made out to be and leaves large holes for too many families - there are capacity issues, there are funding issues and there are meeting needs issues. I'm not sure parking your kid for the day should be cheaper than parking your car, I'm also not sure that a family making $200,000 per year needs the same support as the single mom trying to scrape by on $50,000 per year. I'm not sure a system that works really well for highly paid urban professionals is fair to shift workers or those living in small communities. I think there's a pretty big opportunity to come up with a much better policy that relies less on government and can work better for Canadians. After all a $10/day spot that can't be accessed isn't helpful and creates a lottery of care for a very limited number of Canadian families - meanwhile a childcare safety net, that recognizes and supports that childcare needs can be met in a variety of ways (including income tested affordable daycare) might be much better.
I really hope the Conservatives don't abandon O'Toole and give him the opportunity to develop an actual track record, and to improve upon their platform.
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