FOREIGN INTERFERENCE — ERIN O'TOOLE says Chinese interference is to blame for the defeat of as many as nine Conservative candidates in the 2021 federal election. The former Conservative leader’s remark, made during a podcast this week, advances an unusually specific allegation at a time of widespread warnings about state actors trying to undermine Canada’s democratic process. “We lost eight or nine seats to foreign interference from China,” O’Toole, who did not provide any evidence to back his accusation, told Liberal MP NATHANIEL ERSKINE-SMITH on an episode of “Uncommons” recorded June 6. — Tory backup: Conservative MP MICHAEL CHONG tells POLITICO that he shares O’Toole’s views. Chong, who serves as their party’s foreign affairs critic, said Wednesday that after the election he was initially cautious about blaming Beijing for interfering in the vote. The evidence at the time, he said, wasn’t conclusive — which he claims has since changed. Chong says research from McGill University now provides proof of interference. “The communist leadership in Beijing did interfere in the last federal election by spreading disinformation through proxies on Chinese-language social media platforms that contributed to the defeat of a number of Conservative MPs,” Chong said. Our ANDY BLATCHFORD and ZI-ANN LUM have the story here. PM ON THE POD — On his swing through La La Land for the Summit of the Americas, Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU made time to talk to some Americans: Obama-era White House staffers BEN RHODES and TOMMY VIETOR, who now co-host Pod Save the World. The prime minister might never find a more comfortable studio than that one to uncork a half-hour's worth of Liberal talking points. At times, the pair of American progressives fawned over Trudeau's mere presence. Playbook listened so you don't have to. Here are two chunks of their convo that stood out: — On going negative: "Attack politics, divisive politics, negative stirring up of hate and fear and differences — the dirty secret is they work, even back in 2015, they work to get you elected. You can do that. It's just what we're seeing is that once you've used those methods to get elected, it becomes incredibly hard to govern responsibly for all citizens in bringing people together and getting big things done. "Because once you start churning up anger, it just feeds on itself. And if you're not continually throwing fresh raw meat at it, it will get away from you entirely. And that's where we're seeing in Canada, a certain number of people who stirred up that, are starting to have it sort of turned back against them a little bit." Trudeau's unnamed target was almost certainly PIERRE POILIEVRE , the freedom evangelist and frontrunner for the Conservative leadership who could face off against the PM should he seek a fourth term. But we can hear the Tories reading this cackling at a Liberal who claims to stay above it all. Remember last year, when the Liberals turned abortion-rights supporter ERIN O'TOOLE into an anti-abortion bogeyman to court swing votes? Or when Twitter slapped a warning on a CHRYSTIA FREELAND tweet that claimed the Tories would privatize healthcare?) — On gas prices, and er, other stuff: "Right now, inflation is the biggest challenge. Intellectually, people will say, yes, we need more gender equality, we need a better fight against climate change. But as we're seeing with gas prices right now, as soon as inflation and gas prices go high, people are like, 'Oh, no, no, we need more oil and gas.' Oh, I thought you were an environmentalist? 'Yeah. But I can't afford to fill my tank anymore.' Yes, but we've gotta get beyond that. So you have to bring people along where they are. That's why our answer to inflation, for example, is what we fought on in the last election, which was $10-a-day childcare right across the country." ENDORSEMENT WATCH — There was a bit of a commotion in Tory circles Tuesday when a pair of MPs who backed PATRICK BROWN — KYLE SEEBACK and DAN MUYS — jumped ship for Poilervre’s campaign. That left only two caucus members in Brown's camp, campaign co-chair MICHELLE REMPEL GARNER and DOUG SHIPLEY. Meanwhile, more than half of the caucus has lined up behind Poilievre. (As for the other candidates: 16 have picked JEAN CHAREST, nine are backing LESLYN LEWIS , and one is in SCOTT AITCHISON's corner. Not a one supports ROMAN BABER.) By Playbook's count, the number of Tory MPs who haven't committed to a leadership candidate has dwindled to 21. (Interim leader CANDICE BERGEN and the other neutral members of her inner circle are excluded from that total.) — Still up for grabs: LAILA GOODRIDGE, RACHAEL THOMAS, MIKE LAKE, EARL DREESHEN, ZIAD ABOULTAIF, KELLY MCCAULEY, GREG MCLEAN, BOB BENZEN, TONY BALDINELLI, MICHAEL CHONG, BEN LOBB, ALEX RUFF, TERRY DOWDALL, RAQUEL DANCHO, TED FALK, KEVIN WAUGH, RANDY HOBACK, GARY VIDAL, ROBERT KITCHEN, JACQUES GOURDE, and TAKO VAN POPTA. That's eight Albertans, five Ontarians, four Saskatchewanians, two Manitobans, a Quebecer and a British Columbian, just FYI. THE INSIDER'S VIEW ON ENDORSEMENTS— Playbook got on the horn with former MP JAMES CUMMING, the author of a lengthy election post-mortem who lost his own Edmonton riding to Liberal MP RANDY BOISSONNAULT last year. Cumming will remain neutral in this race — "I'm not sure the optics, after I did such an intensive review, warrant me getting behind anybody" — but he did dish a bit on why endorsements matter. And why they don't. — Elbow grease: A simple pamphlet that lists caucus support isn't all that helpful, says Cumming, because the points system that elects the Tory leader rewards campaigns that maximize the vote in as many ridings as possible. "I think the more important thing is, what's your ground game look like? That's where these races are won or lost. What kind of infrastructure do you have to sell memberships? And what kind of infrastructure do you have to get out the vote? The more people you can recruit to help you with that, I think the better chance you'll have for success." A supportive tweet from an MP? Meh. But it's a different story if that endorser works the phones in their riding. "If they can swing their constituency association volunteers to assist, that's what's important, because you want to win that constituency." Cumming endorsed PETER MACKAY in 2020 after mulling over his options. He says it was "important to take a stand" during the race. "For my constituency to know where their MP stood, to know where my thoughts were, was helpful to them," he said. "I tried to gauge what the feeling was in my constituency, and what were they looking for in leadership." — What's next: Persuasion is the word on everyone's lips. "Not all members have made up their minds," says Cumming. "That's where if you have caucus members, or people that are known in the community, making calls and trying to convince people that you have the right candidate … I would suspect that helps."
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