Andrew Scheer, one of the front-runners in the 14-candidate race for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, spoke in Estevan to 105 party faithful at the Beefeater Plaza on March 4.
With the election of a new federal leader on May 27, candidates have until March 27 to sell membership to people who will hopefully support their candidacy.
Scheer, 37, was first elected in 2004 and has held the seat of Regina- Qu’Appelle since that time. From 2011 until 2015, he served as speaker of the House of Commons, a role where he was ultimate authority for Parliament when a terrorist attacked Oct. 22, 2014. Since the defeat of the Stephen Harper Conservative government in 2015, he has served as official opposition house leader. He is a strong French speaker.
Scheer was born and raised in Ottawa, having moved to Saskatchewan in 2003 to join his future wife, Jill, and complete his bachelor of arts degree at the University of Regina. He noted that in moving to Saskatchewan at the time, he did the opposite of what many young people did. “Many young people were leaving our province,” he said. “Our number one export wasn’t our oil and gas, it wasn’t our cattle, it was young people who were born here, raised here, trained here, and had leave to find opportunity.”
The NDP’s attitude “would rather have everyone finish last together than have anyone get ahead,” Scheer said.
Referring to a planned carbon tax, Scheer noted, “We have a government in Ottawa that wants to punish Western Canada, that wants to add additional burdens to our economy and the opportunity to invest and expand at a time when we’re facing difficulty with low commodity prices. They don’t care. They have a very cold-hearted approach.”
He paid tribute to Brad Wall’s positive message when taking power, and he wants to follow a similar path. The message he brought to the Energy City was that of a positive approach to politics.
“Who can beat Justin Trudeau next time?” he posed.
“Don’t you agree it would be fantastic to have a prime minister for Saskatchewan again?” he asked.
“I’m really doing what I am doing right now because of my kids … I believe very strongly that I cannot let Justin Trudeau do to my five children what his father did to my generation.
“When you think of the legacy of debt that was left, people that are working hard today to pay off the interest that Pierre Trudeau racked up, that is the exact same thing Justin Trudeau is promising my kids,” Scheer said, noting that current estimates from the finance department say that if nothing changes the federal budget will not be balanced until 2055. At that point, his son, currently 12 years old, will be 50.
“That is intergenerational theft, and I can’t let it happen,” he said.
“I think it’s critically important to learn the right lessons from the last election,” Scheer said. “I don’t believe that in order to beat the Liberals, we have to become like the Liberals.”
He rejects the notion of adopting the policies of the party that just defeated you and has now formed government. Instead, Conservatives should stick to their beliefs and principles.
“Clearly, something happened in 2015,” he said. He didn’t get negative feedback from Conservative policies, nor were doors slammed in his face on the idea of balancing the budget.
“I believe it’s because we failed to deliver and articulate a positive message for what Conservative policies can do for this country. We spent a lot of time focusing on why people shouldn’t vote Liberal, but we didn’t do a good enough job encouraging people and convincing people that voting Conservative would actually mean a better four years for them than voting Liberal,” he said.
“The key to winning in 2019 is not to change who we are, sell things we don’t believe in or promise things that we know won’t work. We do need a leader that can articulate a positive vision for our country and reach a broader audience of Canadians.”
He said Liberals often focus on intentions, but aren’t so good at following through, whereas Conservatives focus on results. Liberals get a monopoly on compassion, and Trudeau’s eyes will well up on cue, he noted. Conservatives are compassionate, too, but it’s often expressed in policies that focus on creating opportunities.
“I want to talk about the great things Conservative policies do for people,” he said.
“We want to balance the budget so we stop borrowing money from our kids, so we stop paying money to bankers and hedge funds so our money can go into tax cuts and services. We have to start convincing people that our policies actually address the very people they’re helping.”
Scheer said he wants to balance the federal budget within two years.
He talked of his support of pipelines and the hypocrisy of those who want to block them (See related story in the April edition of Pipeline News).
He tackled the imposition of a new federal carbon tax, a major issue in a coal town. “This carbon tax that Justin Trudeau is promising is going to hamper our ability to grow, and that’s putting it mildly.”
If the United States does not have a carbon tax, we will export jobs but not reduce emissions, according to Scheer.
“We’ve got clean coal and carbon capture. We can do more to help the environment in a practical way by exporting that technology around the world,” he said. (See related story Page A18).
As Estevan is a border community, the recent arrival of people fleeing the United States and crossing the border at Emerson, Man., hasn’t gone unnoticed. Scheer questioned that, and the federal government’s response. “I’ve been to North Dakota. It’s safe,” he said. “There is no basis to have people fleeing the United States to come to Canada.”
He promised to return such people to the U.S. and implement a refugee system that looks after actual vulnerable people, not those breaking the law by coming here illegally.
Scheer closed his remarks by saying, “There’s more to being prime minister than taking a selfie.”
