Erin O'Toole

Erin Michael O'Toole (born January 22, 1973) is a Canadian former politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Durham from 2012 to 2023.

O'Toole was born in Montreal, Quebec, on January 22, 1973, the son of Mollie ( Hall) and John O'Toole, who served as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Durham in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario between 1995 and 2014.

His father is of Irish descent.

His mother was born in London, England, and came to Canada after World War II.

Following his mother's death when he was nine years old, his family moved to Port Perry, Ontario, where he attended elementary school.

O'Toole and his family later moved to Bowmanville, Ontario, where he graduated from Bowmanville High School.

He joined the Canadian Forces in 1991 and studied at the Royal Military College (RMC) until 1995.

He was commissioned in Air Command, serving as an air navigator, eventually attaining the rank of captain.

In 1991, O'Toole joined the military, enrolling at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.

He graduated with an honours Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science in 1995.

Following his graduation, O'Toole was commissioned as an officer in the Canadian Forces Air Command.

He was first posted to Trenton, Ontario, where he was involved in search and rescue operations.

O'Toole also spent time at 17 Wing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he completed his training as an air navigator.

In 1997, O'Toole was posted to 12 Wing in Shearwater, Nova Scotia.

While serving at this post, O'Toole flew as a tactical navigator on a CH-124 (Sea King) helicopter with 423 Squadron, conducted maritime surveillance, and performed search and rescue and naval support operations.

While serving at 12 Wing, O'Toole was promoted to the rank of captain and was awarded the Sikorsky Helicopter Rescue Award for rescuing an injured fisherman at sea.

In 2000, O'Toole completed his active service in the military.

He transferred to the reserves, working as a training officer running flight simulators, while he pursued a law degree.

He received the Canadian Forces' Decoration for 12 years of service to Canada.

O'Toole graduated from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University with a law degree in 2003.

He returned to Ontario where he articled at, and later became a lawyer with, Stikeman Elliott, a business law firm in Toronto.

During this time, O'Toole primarily practised in the areas of product liability, insolvency, competition and general commercial law.

Between 2006 and 2011, O'Toole served as Canadian in-house counsel for Procter & Gamble.

He acted as corporate counsel for Gillette, provided commercial and regulatory law advice, was counsel on issues relating to legislation, and investigated counterfeiting operations.

In 2011, O'Toole joined the law firm Heenan Blaikie, where he was a registered lobbyist for Facebook, Inc.

Following his active service, he received a law degree, practicing law for nearly a decade until he was elected to the House of Commons in a 2012 by-election.

In May 2012, O'Toole announced his plans to run as the Conservative candidate in the by-election for Durham, following Bev Oda's resignation, winning the seat on November 26, 2012.

In September 2013, Prime Minister Stephen Harper named O'Toole the parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade, Ed Fast.

In 2015, O'Toole briefly served as veterans affairs minister in the Harper government.

In 2017, he ran for the party's leadership, finishing third to winner Andrew Scheer.

After Scheer resigned as leader in late 2019, O'Toole ran a successful leadership campaign, defeating former cabinet minister Peter MacKay in the 2020 leadership election.

After he assumed the leadership, O'Toole marketed his party to working-class Canadians.

O'Toole lost the 2021 federal election while receiving a plurality of the popular vote, and also won re-election in his home riding of Durham.

O'Toole stated he would stay on as party leader, but on February 2, 2022, he was ousted after losing a leadership review from sitting Conservative Party MPs.

O'Toole has been described as a moderate member of his party.

On domestic policy issues, O'Toole supports gradually eliminating the federal deficit, simplifying federal taxes, a low carbon savings account, and pipeline construction.

On foreign policy issues, O'Toole supports a CANZUK agreement and a hard-line approach to the Chinese government, considering it to be a bad actor on the international stage.

O'Toole's voting record on social issues has been mainly characterized as socially progressive.

A member of the Conservative Party, O'Toole served as the party's leader and the leader of the Official Opposition from 2020 to 2022.

Born in Montreal, O'Toole grew up in Port Perry and Bowmanville.