A screenshot from Erin O'Toole's goodbye video.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Facebook

Three of the four Conservative MPs representing Kamloops and the Okanagan are being cagey about whether or not they supported Erin O’Toole as party leader, and who they want to see take his place.

The recently ousted Conservative Party leader lost a leadership review vote 73 to 45 on Feb. 2.

Only Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola MP Dan Albas shared his vote, and he said he was in favour of keeping O'Toole on as party leader.

O'Toole appointed Albas as Opposition Critic for Environment and Climate Change.

"I’m old fashioned and when you’re given a position of responsibility, in this case cabinet confidentiality," Albas said. "There's cabinet solidarity. You support your leader, if not your resign from your post."

Albas said he has not yet spoken to any other Conservatives who have expressed interested in running for party leader. However, he said Carlton MP Pierre Poilievre would be a likely frontrunner if he decides to run.

Poilievre announced his intention to run in the Conservatives' 2020 leadership race but changed his mind a few days later citing family reasons. Since then he has risen in popularity thanks to fiery question period performances as finance critic.

Albas, when asked if he would consider running for party leader, said doing so would be "a disservice to the good people of Princeton and Merritt" who need help and support after last year's severe flooding. 

READ MORE: Quick Quotes: Reactions to Erin O'Toole voted out as federal Conservative leader

Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo refused to say which side of that vote he was on.

“Out of respect for the process and confidentiality surrounding the election process, I will not be making any comment as to how anyone, myself included, may have voted,” he said in an email.

As for his preferred candidate, Caputo said he doesn’t have one yet.

“I would like to hear from all candidates before deciding on whether I will support someone for leadership or stay neutral,” he said.

Kelowna-Lake Country Conservative MP Tracy Gray didn’t answer either question.

“The Conservative Party of Canada caucus has chosen to move forward with a new leader to unify and build our party as we represent Canadians and prepare for the next election,” she said in an emailed statement when asked how she voted and who is her preferred candidate. “At a time when Canadians are hurting because of the failed Liberal policies, now more than ever we need common sense Conservative solutions for all of Canada.”

In a public statement released shortly after, Gray congratulated Candice Bergen on becoming interim leader and thanked O’Toole.

"I want to thank the Hon. Erin O’Toole for his service to our party and country as leader of the Official Opposition,” Gray’s statement reads. “My thoughts are also with Rebecca, Mollie and Jack for their sacrifices over the past 18 months.”

READ MORE: 'I'm not going anywhere,' O'Toole says in the face of caucus-led leadership review

The office of Mel Arnold, MP for North Okanagan-Shuswap, was only able to offer a statement that also did not answer either question. However he did express an urgency to elect a new leader.

“Discussions and critiques of our party’s leadership have recently become very public causing distraction from the important work that my Conservative colleagues and I must be focused on,” read’s Arnold's press release. “I believe a timely leadership race is now necessary for grassroots members to select a new leader and allow the Conservative party to rebuild unity and restore focus on the issues facing Canadians such as mounting inflation, housing and healthcare shortages, and national security.”

In a goodbye video O’Toole posted to social media, he spoke highly of the Conservative Party and pledged his “unwavering loyalty” to the next leader.

The Leader of the Official Opposition is paid $88,700 each year in addition to an MP's salary of $185,800.

— This story was updated at 4:23 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022 to include comment from MP Dan Albas.

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