NEW FACE FOR FEDERAL TORIES
Reaction to Scheer’s victory
Calgary-area Conservative MPs said Sunday they are focused on the party’s next steps following Andrew Scheer’s surprise victory Saturday in the federal Tory leadership race.
Ron Liepert, MP for Calgary Signal Hill and a supporter of Erin O’Toole’s leadership bid, said now that the convention is over, “there’s a good feeling that everyone can get behind Andrew.
“I think Lisa Raitt put it best on Friday night in her speech that when the winner is selected, we have to focus on the next campaign and not the last one — the next campaign obviously being 2019, which is the general election,” Liepert said Sunday.
Scheer, 38, eked out a narrow win against front-runner Maxime Bernier at the party’s convention in Toronto, winning 50.95 per cent of the available points, while Bernier posted 49.05 per cent after leading all 12 of the previous ballots.
As politicians prepared for their first Conservative caucus meeting Monday morning following the tight vote, Scheer supporter John Barlow said he believes the new leader will be able to keep the party unified following the 13-candidate leadership contest.
“We have a lot of different Conservatives in our party and we need to keep them united, focused on common goals, rather than fighting among ourselves,” said Barlow, MP for Foothills.
He added the 13-ballot vote was “a lot more nerve-racking” than he expected.
“Many of us couldn’t sit down — we were up walking around and pacing,” he said.
“It honestly felt like triple overtime, Game 7, Stanley Cup playoff game. It was a long night.”
Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel, who did not endorse anyone in the leadership race, said she was pleased that the competition was “mostly free of acrimony.”
“Sure, people were taking shots at each other, but not at the point where it was going to create a rupture in the party by any stretch, so I think that that’s really sure footing,” she said.
Liepert said he believes that over the next year the Conservatives need to debate some of the ideas that resonated with party members during the leadership campaign.
“I think that’s a challenge that hopefully the new leader will throw out to all of the various riding associations across the country, and then we have our next annual general meeting in Halifax in August of 2018 and that will be the lead-up to the 2019 election,” he said.