Trost endorses Scheer’s team despite snub
MP left off list of ‘shadow ministers’
I TOLD (SCHEER) I WANTED TO GIVE HIM AN ABSOLUTELY FREE HAND.
Brad Trost, whose socially conservative supporters helped elect Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, says he isn’t disappointed after his name was left off a list of “shadow ministers” released Wednesday.
With rivals Maxime Bernier and Kellie Leitch publicly falling into line, and a pro-life group also giving their approval, Scheer has faced little criticism from his base. But New Democrats are decrying the appointment of an apparently pro-life MP to the status of women portfolio — even as Tories swear they will not reopen the abortion debate.
Trost had no complaints about the shadow cabinet. “You know, I was actually struck by how much continuity there was,” he said in an interview Thursday.
Ahead of finalizing a roster, Scheer called to consult him, Trost said. “I told him I wanted to give him an absolutely free hand. You need to have people completely say, ‘you have my unqualified support regardless.’” Trost has no plans to leave the House and said he prefers being able to comment on more than one file.
“I remember back when people were really upset that Stephen Harper did not make them parliamentary secretaries. And then two years later, they were really relieved that Stephen Harper did not appoint them as parliamentary secretaries,” he said. “Sometimes the glory is not always worth the grief, this is the thing.”
In the leadership contest that ended in May, major down-ballot support for Scheer came from Trost and Pierre Lemieux, who branded themselves as social conservatives.
Keeping people with socially conservative views in the loop, alongside other types of conservatives like the libertarians who voted for Maxime Bernier, is Scheer’s big-tent challenge.
“There’s no expectation that we will veer sharply to the right on anything,” Trost said, but voters would expect consistency on past policy and free votes on issues of conscience.
New Democrat status of women critic Sheila Malcolmson is worried about more of a shift, though. She expressed concerns Thursday about her new Tory counterpart, Rachael Harder.
“I don’t think there’s any way that you can pretend to stand up for women when you are at the same time undermining their basic right to choose,” Malcolmson said.
According to the Campaign Life Coalition, in late 2014 Harder replied “yes” to questions about whether she believed life begins at conception and whether she would “strive to introduce and pass laws to protect unborn children from the time of conception.”
Malcolmson called Harder “outspokenly antichoice.” She also recalled Harder applauding loudly (and solo) when Malcolmson mentioned, in question period, a U.S. Trump administration policy that revoked development funding from groups that mention abortion, let alone offer services. “That was a strong nonverbal statement in my mind.”
In an emailed statement, Harder told the Post, “I am very proud to serve as the shadow minister for the status of women and I look forward to working with my colleagues on all sides of the House to advance shared issues of importance to women and girls. As you are aware, it is the official policy of the Conservative party that a future Conservative government will not reopen the abortion debate.”
Malcolmson acknowledged people have diverse views on abortion and access to it. But people who are “anti-choice,” she said, might better land in files that don’t have to do with reproductive rights, like industry or innovation.
“Scheer has a lot of strong women in his caucus who have a different voting record from Harder,” she said. “If he wanted to reassure the country that he was not going to impose an antichoice agenda, not going to politicize that, I think he would’ve made a different choice of critic for the party on women’s issues.”
Scheer himself is prolife but has said he does not want to reopen divisive debates. Still, Johanne Brownrigg, who works in federal government relations for the Campaign Life Coalition’s Ottawa bureau, praised his choice in Harder.
“Rachael Harder has proven herself to be very competent,” Brownrigg said. “I think that if we’re going to talk about all women, we have to have a variety of viewpoints. … Bias has already existed in the status of women: bias for abortion. It is not representative of all women’s views in Canada.”