Medicine Hat News

Scheer excitement

Trudeau, Scheer talk Parliament, trade in first call after Conservati­ve race

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TORONTO New Conservati­ve leader Andrew Scheer’s victory speech was peppered with attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

But on Sunday, the two spoke by phone in the aftermath of Scheer’s win, one that now also makes him the official Opposition leader in the House of Commons.

Trudeau called Scheer from Italy, where the prime minister is currently on a state visit following the G7 summit.

“They discussed issues of importance including making Parliament work for Canadians and the important relationsh­ip with the United States,” read a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“They agreed to meet in person in the coming weeks.”

Despite the proforma call, the Liberals have not wasted time attacking Scheer either, painting him as an extremist, with his call for an end to federal funding for universiti­es who don’t guarantee free speech on campus.

They also released a new video about positive politics Sunday, drawing on a two-year old speech from Trudeau to showcase him as an inclusive leader, in an apparent contrast to Scheer’s socially conservati­ve roots.

It's likely to be some time before Scheer and Trudeau face-off there however, as the prime minister is out of the country for most of the coming week.

Still, Scheer is expected to lead off question period today, after a morning meeting with the 98 other members of Parliament who make up his caucus.

Current NDP leader Tom Mulcair posted his congratula­tions to Scheer in a message on social media.

His party is also in the midst of choosing a new leader, with contenders facing off in a debate Sunday and none had kind words for the new Conservati­ve boss.

“He may be a relative young man but he’s a dinosaur in terms of attitudes,” said Peter Julian, a longtime New Democrat MP in the running for the top job.

“Congratula­tions @andrewsche­er on becoming leader of the Conservati­ve Party of Canada, may we move forward united and strong!”

– Stephen Harper, former prime minister “Andrew, we're so proud of you. What a great race, unbelievab­le finish.”

– Rona Ambrose, former interim Conservati­ve leader “I congratula­te my friend Andrew for his victory and look forward to working with him to beat Justin Trudeau in 2019.”

– Maxime Bernie, Conservati­ve MP and leadership candidate

TORONTO Andrew Scheer is no stranger to making political history.

When he first sought federal political office in 2004, he beat out the NDP candidate who at the time was the longest serving MP in the House of Commons.

Seven years later, his Conservati­ve party won its first majority government and Scheer, then only 32, would soon be elected Speaker of the House of Commons, the youngest person ever to hold the storied post.

On Saturday, he nabbed another place in the history books, becoming only the second leader ever of the federal Conservati­ves in a nailbiter win over Quebec MP Maxime Bernier.

Bernier started on his path to the leadership race years ago. Scheer’s was more recent.

In the aftermath of the 2015 election, which put the Conservati­ves in Opposition, Scheer gave serious thought to seeking the role of interim leader, which became available when Stephen Harper announced his resignatio­n shortly after going down in defeat to the Liberals.

The interim job comes with a catch, warned Alberta MP Chris Warkentin: you can’t run for the permanent position. Warkentin looked Scheer him square in the eye and said, “Don't do it.”

Warkentin and others were looking around at who was already testing the waters for a leadership bid. At the time, it was far from clear whether longtime party heavyweigh­ts Jason Kenney and Peter MacKay would seek the job. Challengin­g them would have been futile.

Once MacKay and Kenney made it clear their interests lay elsewhere, potential supporters saw a path to victory for the dimple-cheeked father of five.

Born in Ottawa but having spent his adult life on the Prairies, Scheer was a candidate of the West and central Canada. He was fluently bilingual, an asset the party needed to capitalize on its 2015 success in Quebec. And while he was young — he’s now only 38 — he had an air of gravitas that came from his years as Speaker.

“I think that Andrew has demonstrat­ed through this campaign the things I recognized in Andrew a year ago,” Warkentin said. “He had the ability to connect with Canadians from coast to coast, and if given the opportunit­y to get to know him, they would put their confidence in him.”

Saskatchew­an Sen. Denise Batters decided to back Scheer the very day MacKay bowed out.

She’d been a longtime supporter of MacKay’s, and said she saw similar traits in Scheer: style and substance, a perfect foil to Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“A better guy you could not find,” Batters said of Scheer. “He thinks of his country always No. 1.”

That was September 2016, and that week Scheer announced he was stepping back from his current caucus position as House leader to pursue his leadership bid.

His campaign saw him pick up dozens of endorsemen­ts from within the Conservati­ve caucus and without; a key moment for his campaign came when Saskatchew­an Premier Brad Wall offered his support. Another came when farmers in Quebec coalesced around his campaign in a bid to stop Bernier.

The latter’s opposition to supply management was seen as a threat to their livelihood­s; thousands of farmers are believed to have bought membership­s in the party specifical­ly to vote against Bernier.

In Saturday’s vote count, Scheer actually won more votes in Bernier’s own riding of Beauce.

Social conservati­ves also claim a piece of his prize.

Scheer is pro-life; though he did support the party’s decision to strike a policy opposing same-sex marriage from its handbook, it wasn’t because he supports it. It was a pragmatic decision, he’s said, stemming from the fact that the country has just moved on.

Still, his decision on samesex marriage was one of the things that prompted fellow Conservati­ve Brad Trost to launch a leadership campaign of his own. Trost said he believes that when he dropped off the ballot, his supporters went to Scheer.

“Social conservati­ves had an impact in this race,” Trost said afterward.

“We have a voice.”

 ?? CP PHOTO/FRANK GUNN ?? Andrew Scheer, right, is congratula­ted by Maxime Bernier after being elected the new leader of the federal Conservati­ve party at the federal Conservati­ve leadership convention in Toronto on Saturday.
CP PHOTO/FRANK GUNN Andrew Scheer, right, is congratula­ted by Maxime Bernier after being elected the new leader of the federal Conservati­ve party at the federal Conservati­ve leadership convention in Toronto on Saturday.

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