‘He’s not the guy to bring us forward,’ one party worker says
“Any Conservative leader that has lost the evangelical, French, and progressive conservative wings of the party doesn’t have much of a coalition left,” he wrote.
Those sentiments were repeated by Raitt on Wednesday, who said that Scheer was unable to balance the differing interests within the party. “Social conservatives want a strong leader, and they want a strong leader to carry their social conservative views to Ottawa and have the strength to bring forward motions that are sympathetic and move forward the agenda of the social conservatives,” she said. “Andrew wasn’t going to do that.”
Still others have criticized Scheer for failing to adequately address questions about his social conservative values, particularly on the issue of LGBTQ rights.
One Conservative source interviewed by the National Post doubts whether Scheer has properly reckoned with the loss, particularly after he delivered a concession speech that framed the election result as a Conservative win that had “put Justin Trudeau on notice.” Scheer has declined to address any of the policies or messaging tactics used through the campaign, instead doubling down on some positions like his refusal to march in Pride parades.
“I don’t think he knows why he lost,” said one person who has worked in several Conservative campaign war rooms, but would only speak on condition of anonymity. “Everything that he did during the campaign alone certainly wasn’t successful, but everything that he did after the campaign suggests that he’s not the guy to bring us forward.”
The person said there has been no signalling from Scheer since the election that he was aware of the areas he fell short. “There was no change in strategy. There was no clarification of any of the positions that seem to have dogged him since the day after the election.”
Scheer did tell Global News in an interview there was “no one more disappointed than me” with the election result, while attempting to clarify his position on gay rights, which he had been more ambiguous about during the campaign.
“I won’t march in parades, but I will ensure that our party is as inclusive and open and that we fight for equality rights of all Canadians,” he had said.
In August, before the campaign started, the Liberals publicized a clip from 2005 of Scheer speaking out against same-sex marriage, rocking the Conservative campaign and causing Scheer to go silent on the issue for a week.
Many called the attack by Liberal MP Ralph Goodale hypocritical, as he had voted in favour of a motion just a few years earlier that explicitly categorized marriage as “the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.”
Scheer announced on Wednesday that he would be announcing his new leadership team Thursday morning at 10 a.m., Eastern Time.