Erin O'Toole gave a speech in the Parliament on Monday. He asked the MPs not to get caught up in a “sinkhole of diversion and division.”.O'Toole is stepping down after serving four terms as an MP for Durham, Ontario. .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, he took responsibility for the Conservative Party's loss in the 2021 federal election..“Too many of us are often chasing algorithms down a sinkhole of diversion and division,” said O’Toole. .“We are becoming elected officials who judge our self-worth by how many likes we get on social media but not how many lives we change in the real world.”.“Performance politics is fuelling polarization,” said O’Toole. .“Virtue signalling is replacing discussion, and far too often, we are just using this chamber to generate clips, not to start national debates.”.In the last election, the Conservative Party lost 491,827 votes and two seats in the House of Commons compared to the previous election in 2019..“I am responsible for that,” O’Toole said last October 6. .“We’re all disappointed, no one more so than me.” .On March 31, O'Toole announced that he would be stepping down as an MP..“Social media did not build this great country, but it is starting to tear its democracy down,” said O’Toole. .“If we are not careful, there will soon be a generation of young voters who have never even heard a point of view different from their own.”.“I fear the ignorance of the views of others will slowly transform into a dislike of others and we can see that starting to happen,” said O’Toole. .“Today, too often, we are allowing conspiracy theories about the United Nations or the World Economic Forum to go unchallenged, or we attribute sinister motives to these organizations or people in a way that is simply not true or not fair.”.“If we do this more, we are allowing others to define the debate for us and risk allowing others to set the course for this country because too many members on all sides of this chamber, and from time to time, I have been guilty of it myself, are becoming followers of our followers when we should be leaders,” said O’Toole..“One member from the other side of the House told me that they no longer speak to their brother because of the divisive nature of the vaccine debates in the last election. Canadian families are in some cases finding it difficult to talk to each other about important issues.”
