SCOTT ARMSTRONG READY FOR ANOTHER RUN
Let the melodrama begin.
Scott Armstrong has been confirmed as candidate for the federal Conservative party, setting up a potential rematch with Liberal Bill Casey, who soundly defeated the veteran MP in the 2015 federal election, claiming the Cumberland-colchester seat.
“I’m in this to win,” said Armstrong, of Brookfield. “I enjoyed tremendous support in all three of the elections I ran in and we cannot forget the 2015 election was a Liberal sweep of Atlantic Canada. Times have changed since then. We have a different leader and different policies.”
The 52-year-old school teacher and principal was first elected in a 2009 by-election and was re-elected in 2012.
“Andrew Sheer is why I have decided to run,” Armstrong said. “He’s a good friend of mine and he’s not one to be under-estimated.”
Armstrong served as the party’s Atlantic caucus chair and following his defeat served as the party’s critic for Atlantic Canada and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. He surrendered that post in September 2016 when he returned to the classroom.
Armstrong said a lot has changed since the 2015 election. He feels the party is in much better shape, with many polls putting the Conservatives astride or ahead of the Liberals.
“The honeymoon for Mr. Trudeau is over and you’ll see a lot of traditional Conservative seats in Atlantic Canada, like this one, switch back in 2019,” he said.
Sheer’s policies will be friendly to families and young Canadians, Armstrong maintains, as well as the economy of Atlantic Canada, which he says has suffered under the Liberals.
“He’s someone that people in rural parts of Nova Scotia and Canada can relate to.”
He said an east-west pipeline would have created jobs in Atlantic Canada, but the federal government cancelled the project to appease environmentalists in Quebec. The government’s planned carbon tax will add to the cost of transportation, he added, punishing rural areas that don’t have access to public transit, while impacting the fishery that depends on fuel.
Armstrong said the Liberals have also increased taxes on small business, which he considers the backbone of Atlantic Canada’s economy.
“Implementing the carbon tax is going to add to the cost of doing business in Atlantic Canada and is going to hurt the economy,” he said.
Currently, Armstrong is serving as co-chair of PC MLA Elizabeth Smith-mcCrossin’s provincial party leadership campaign.