Scheer’s partisanship unhelpful in trade war

Conservatives NEED to look past their hatred of TRUDEAU to SEE Bigger picture

Usually, Saskatchewan governments can depend on like-minded federal parties for support ... or at least they can if that federal equivalent is in opposition.

Sure, it gets complicated if that federal party happens to be in power. Whether it was the Pierre Trudeau Liberals of Saskatchewan Liberal premier Ross Thatcher’s days or the Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservatives of Grant Devine’s days (or even Stephen Harper’s Conservatives of recent times), a like-minded government in Ottawa isn’t always helpful to the provincial government here.

However, a small province like Saskatchewan without much other political clout, often seems to be a likeminded federal opposition ally.

That was surely the case in the Conservative oppositions when former Saskatchewan Party premier Brad Wall and the Harper Conservatives lobbied for removing nonrenewable resource revenue from the equalization formula.

Now with the Conservatives back in opposition and under a Saskatchewan leader in Andrew Scheer, the sky should be the limit for the Sask. Party/conservative alliance.

There have been dividends. That Sask. Party Premier Scott Moe has repeated every federal Conservative note on the Trans Mountain pipeline and the carbon tax is one of the reasons the message has reverberated in this province and elsewhere.

But premiers are expected to lead, and Opposition leaders are expected to oppose. And there are times when the government-in-waiting needs to put the interests of the nation ahead of the usual political gamesmanship.

And right now, one wonders how much help Scheer is providing Moe — or anyone in this country, for that matter — in the trade war with the U.S. The thought crosses one’s mind after Scheer tweeted out last week a broadside about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “failing ” Canada’s aluminum and steel producers.

From both a national and Saskatchewan perspective, there are numerous reasons to criticize Trudeau right now — the ineffectiveness of the carbon tax being just one of them.

But in the face of what could be a serious threat to the national and provincial economies, one might hope someone who aspires to be prime minister would holster petty partisanship for the sake of nation. Consider how out of sync Scheer’s message has been with just about every other politician — including a few rather conservative-minded ones.

Moe is down in Washington, meeting with any politician he can — including U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross — to make the case of the integrated North American economy.

Of course, many will make the easy argument that a premier of a small Canadian province of a million people meeting with bit players in U.S. politics will have no direct impact on U.S. President Donald Trump. On the surface, this is so, but understand that it is the duty of every politician to do what they can in the economic and other interests of their constituents.

And further understand that any influence any Canadian has will have to be on the local level in one-on-one conversations. Given that Scheer and other Conservatives do have relationships with U.S. Republicans, one might think this is where they also could be helpful.

At the very least, one might think the conservative-minded in Canada would stand up their philosophical principles, which clearly include free trade.

This has been the case for many, including Wall, who in his social media feeds has diligently reminded others how conservative icons like Republican President Ronald Reagan were free traders and has eagerly taken on his Conservative partisans who can’t get past their hatred of Trudeau to see the bigger picture.

It’s a level of political maturity we are not seeing from Scheer and his Conservative caucus — rather ironic, given that Conservatives were arguing long before the Harper government’s 2015 defeat that Trudeau is not mature enough to govern the country.

That Scheer doesn’t get Trudeau’s anti-tariff strategy — a bipartisan one, developed in consultation with conservative-minded trade specialists who recognize what’s at stake and how targeted retaliation is the best Canadian strategy — is troubling.

It’s hard to see how Scheer is helping anyone in this trade fight.

One might hope someone who aspires to be prime minister would holster petty partisanship for the sake of nation.