Focus on Bernier overblown: Aylward

After last weekend’s Conservative Party convention, Prince Edward Island PC Leader James Aylward believes the party’s prospects in the next federal election are promising. Aylward took the stage at the Conservative Party convention on Saturday as part of panel of prospective premiers. He attended the convention as a nonvoting member, along with about two dozen delegates from the Island. The P.E.I. PC party is a separate entity from the Federal Conservative Party. Aylward said Scheer has already attracted support from P.E.I. During last year’s leadership race, Scheer drew the highest number of votes from Island Conservative members. “People are very optimistic,” Aylward said. “There’s lots of rumours flying around that the federal election may even be called early, but people are very happy with the level of candidates that are starting to come forward.” Aylward said fundraising for the Conservative Party is going “extremely well throughout Atlantic Canada.” “The broad appeal for Andrew Scheer with Conservative members is very strong,” he said. The convention was overshadowed on its first day by news that Conservative MP Maxime Bernier, who finished a close second to Scheer during the 2017 leadership race, had resigned from the party. But Aylward said the topic of Bernier’s secession, which dominated most media coverage of the convention, was not a huge concern among party delegates. “When I got there, there wasn’t one single person I heard talking about it or concerned about it. As a matter of fact, the only people that raised the issue with me were the media,” he said. Sylvia Poirer, P.E.I.’s representative on the National Council of the Conservative Party, arrived shortly after Bernier made his announcement. She did not believe his departure would prove to be a big obstacle for the party. “I think the general feeling was that it’s unfortunate that he chose this timing, that it’s always been about Bernier,” Poirier said. “He’s not been particularly a party person, he’s been more a Bernier person.” Island delegates introduced a resolution that called on the party to take a more active stance on climate change. Poirier said the resolution did not make it to the final stage of the convention, where the most popular resolutions are debated and voted upon by members.