The Conservative Party has unveiled a new shadow cabinet fresh off the election of Erin O’Toole, who won the leadership vote a few weeks ago and will helm the party into the next federal election.
Kootenay-Columbia MP Rob Morrison was included in the new shadow cabinet team, and was tapped to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which includes domestic and foreign areas of interest.
Morrison has an extensive background in law enforcement with a decades-long career with the RCMP, as well as serving as a diplomat in southeast Asia with the Department of Foreign Affairs and as the Director General with the Treasury Board Secretariat.
“I’ve done a fair amount of work with national security before, especially when I was a diplomat in Pakistan,” Morrison said. “I worked 17 countries over there so I was involved in some intelligence work over there, so I’m quite versed with some of the activity and I really think I can be an asset.”
Parliamentarians from all parties are preparing for the new fall session, which will start on Sept. 23 with the Throne Speech, which will set the table for the minority Liberal government’s priorities over the fall and into 2021.
O’Toole captured the party leadership vote out of a field of four candidates during a convention near the end of August. O’Toole takes over for Andrew Scheer, who had a brief tenure as the Tory leader for two years following the resignation of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
An Ontario MP, O’Toole is a former cabinet minister with veterans affairs, himself having served in the military before embarking on a legal career working in corporate law in Toronto.
Morrison was an early supporter of O’Toole’s leadership bid, who won in the third round of voting.
“I think he’s the guy who’s going to lead us into the next election and a win for the Conservatives, so I’m really looking forward to working with Erin and getting back to Ottawa,” Morrison said, in an interview earlier this month.
trevor.crawley@cranbrooktownsman.com
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