Andrew Scheer to rally troops in Winnipeg
A selfie with a camel. Snapshots of cherub-cheeked children looking on in awe at some summertime marvel. Photo captions paying tribute to the support of his spouse. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s summer on social media? Nope: think Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer instead.
Make no mistake, the Conservatives are hoping to beat Trudeau come the 2019 election, and if there’s one thing they’re conceding it’s that doing so requires being a little more like him. To a point, anyway.
“I’m not going to try and get even flashier socks that he has to make an impression on social media,” Scheer joked in an interview.
But what Scheer is aiming for when Parliament resumes in a couple weeks is to lay the groundwork to convince Canadians that he can provide an alternative.
“I think at the end of the day if voters don’t see the substance and the merit of the policies you’re advocating, it won’t matter what you do on social media,” he said. Scheer’s spent the summer crossing the country as an introductory tour following his squeaker of a victory in the party’s leadership race last May. It was a way to gather fodder for the Conservative strategy machine that gears up in earnest in Winnipeg on Wednesday with a multi-day meeting of Conservative members of Parliament, senators and staff. The summer has provided no shortage of ingredients for Tories to chew on.
A $10-million payout to Omar Khadr, the Canadian accused of killing a U.S. soldier and wounding another in a firefight in Afghanistan, but whose rights were found to be violated by Canada’s top courts, leading to the settlement.
A surge of asylum seekers overwhelming resources at the Canada-U.S. border raising fears about the integrity of the Canadian immigration system. Then there was there was a decision by the Liberal finance minister to launch consultations on tax changes aimed at closing loopholes used by a growing number of small businesses, which the Liberals say create an unfair playing field. The backlash to that has been sustained, with companies bristling at being accused of cheating when what they say they’re trying to do is manage their own affairs. Liberals themselves are getting an earful and the issue is top of their own caucus meeting agenda this week.