Scheer’s social conservatism obvious target, but Liberals to lay off new leader at onset: insiders
Liberal Party veterans say new Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s reputation as a social conservative is an obvious target for politicking from the Justin Trudeau government, but some say the party in power is likely to avoid being overly aggressive against the new leader for the time-being. Reasons include not being sure, exactly, what direction Mr. […]
‘Surprise’ support for social conservatives Trost, Lemieux helped secure Scheer’s leadership win
Despite flying under the radar in the packed Conservative leadership race, Conservative MP Brad Trost and former MP Pierre Lemieux—both social conservatives—placed fourth and sixth, respectively, on the first ballot, and ultimately helped propel new leader Andrew Scheer to victory. “There were two audible gasps in the room,” said Michelle Austin, former Conservative staffer and […]
Tories get leader, but not big tent party needs
TORONTO—Connect the dots that led to Andrew Scheer’s narrow Conservative leadership victory and what you have is a triumph of retail politics over big ideas. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives lived and eventually died on the battlefield of boutique policies tailored to specific segments of the electorate. Those same dynamics ultimately determined the outcome of the former […]
Nice guys can finish first in this era of Canadian politics
OTTAWA—The Conservative leadership race is finally done and, true to form, in this marathon contest the ending was not as predicted in the closing weeks. There were lots of suggestions that Maxime Bernier was going to win. Instead the victory went to Andrew Scheer. While the opponents of the Conservatives run the predictable attack that […]
Conservative caucus rallies around Scheer; Bernier knew unity would have been tough for him, says Clement
Despite his tight victory, Conservative caucus members say they are unified in their support for new party leader Andrew Scheer, something Maxime Bernier was anticipating to be a challenge for him had he won, according to an MP who worked on his campaign. Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.), who initially ran for the leadership himself […]
‘We’re the party of everyday Canadians,’ Scheer tells energized Conservative caucus on Parliament Hill
PARLIAMENT HILL—Monday morning before the House convened for the day, newly-elected Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer gathered members of his caucus of 99 MPs and 38 Conservative Senators in Centre Block’s Railway Room to lay out the direction of the party, both inside Parliament and beyond, and reinforced the party’s commitment to balanced budgets, repealing the […]
Whoever is leader, Conservatives need better communications to challenge Trudeau
TORONTO—While writing this column, Conservatives were still looking for a new leader. Nonetheless, it doesn’t matter who is going to be the successor of Stephen Harper at the helm federal official opposition party. Personally, I believe that Maxime Bernier would be the best candidate to challenge the present Liberal government of Justin Trudeau. Of course, […]
Serré pitches in for ALS ‘LIFT’ campaign
PARLIAMENT HILL—Liberal MP Marc Serré is using his political profile in an effort to raise interest and awareness in a new ALS campaign that could end up being as fun and a little less chilly than that Ice Bucket Challenge of a few years ago. This time around, the campaign is called Give a LIFT for […]
Social conservatives have chosen, and it’s Andrew Scheer and his perma-smirk
TORONTO—Smirk. The economy. Justin Trudeau. Free speech. His deceased mother. ISIS. On every subject, no matter how sad or serious, Andrew Scheer would smirk. It was, well, weird. His rictus was so off-putting, we started to forget what he was actually saying. Which, for him, was pretty fortunate. Minutes after he won the Conservative Party […]
Social conservatives propel Andrew Scheer to Conservative leadership
The new Conservative Party leader owes his leadership election win, in large part, to the social conservative vote, and now it’s Andrew Scheer’s turn to deliver for social conservatives or the Conservative Party may lose their support in 2019, says a rival candidate. “Frankly, looks like my voters were part of [what] put him over the […]
