‘Nice-guy’ Scheer to enter Tory leadership race
Former Speaker has backers in caucus
• Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer will run for the Conservative party l eadership and has been quietly building support within caucus, Postmedia has learned.
Scheer, a former Speaker of the House of Commons and now official Opposition House leader, will sell himself as an “unapologetic” Conservative who can unite all flanks of the party under one tent, according to a source close to Scheer who is familiar with his plans.
He is busy collecting the signatures required from party members across Canada and commitments from donors before an official campaign launch, which will come in the weeks ahead.
Scheer, an affable 37-yearold known for his nice- guy attitude, has been gathering endorsements from fellow Conservative MPs. The number of caucus members who’ve pledged their support to Scheer is now “well into double digits,” the source said.
“They’re saying we want somebody who can present an unapologetic view of conservatism and can bring everybody together so that we can take on the Liberals in 2019,” the source said.
Scheer’s leadership campaign is ramping up ahead of a Conservative caucus retreat in Halifax next week, by which time a number of MPs have said privately they would like to know who’s in the race and who’s not. Once he officially joins the race, Scheer will have to resign as Opposition House leader. He did not respond to a request for comment.
The MPs s upporting Scheer believe he has an ideal mix of qualities needed for the next leader: he’s fluent in English and French; he supports what they consider fundamental conservative values; he has extensive parliamentary experience; he has ties to Ontario having been born and raised in Ottawa, and has lived in Western Canada, representing Regina- Qu’Appelle since 2004. He’s also seven years younger than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Scheer’s supporters believe he doesn’t carry a lot of political baggage from Stephen Harper’s government, having served in the ostensibly neutral role of Speaker from 2011 to 2015. “There’s a lot of different parts that come together,” the source said. “There are a whole bunch of things that speak to that general unity theme.”
Scheer, however, also has his critics in caucus, who wonder whether he’ ll champion positions — such as opposing abortion and supporting the traditional definition of marriage — that could be divisive in the leadership race and unappealing to many voters in a general election. But some of Scheer’s caucus supporters stress social conservatism won’t be a core element of his leadership campaign.
Declared candidates for the Conservative leadership include MPs Kellie Leitch, Michael Chong, Tony Clement, Maxime Bernier, Deepak Obhrai and Brad Trost, as well as former MP Pierre Lemieux.