The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Tory leader steps down
Scheer resigns, asks Conservatives to ‘stay united’
OTTAWA — Andrew Scheer will be stepping down as leader of the Conservative party once a new leader is chosen.
Scheer rose on a point of personal privilege in the House of Commons on Thursday to announce his decision, which he communicated to his caucus earlier in the day.
He said he’s asked the party’s national council to immediately begin the process of organizing a leadership election and will stay on as party leader and leader of the official opposition until the process has been completed.
“Serving as leader of the party that I love so much has been the opportunity and challenge of a lifetime,” Scheer told his colleagues. “This is not a decision I came to lightly, this is a decision I came to after many long, hard conversations with friends and family over the past two months since the election campaign.”
What many have called a disappointing performance in the October election led to speculation on Scheer’s future as leader. He was already set for a mandatory leadership review in April.
In his seven-minute speech to the House of Commons, Scheer said he believed the decision was best for the party, but also that it was time to put his wife and five children first.
“This has been an incredible challenge for our family to keep up with the pace that is required to lead a caucus and a party into a general election, and my wife Jill has been absolutely heroic,” he said.
“But in order to chart the course ahead this party, this movement needs someone who can give 100 per cent to the effort. I felt it was time to put my family first.”
Before Scheer even finished his speech in the House, some media outlets were reporting a different reason for the resignation.
Global’s Mercedes Stephenson first reported several Conservative sources had revealed Scheer had been using Conservative party money to pay for his
children's private school education.
Sources told Global that expenditures were made without the knowledge or approval of the fund board, prompting calls for his immediate resignation.
Scheer has not yet commented on the allegations.
Meanwhile, social media was quickly rife with speculation on who might replace Scheer.
Former interim leader Rona Ambrose, longtime MP Pierre Poilievre, former prime minister Stephen Harper, former CPC leader hopeful Maxime Bernier and even Don Cherry and Jordan Peterson were among the names swirling around.
Peter MacKay, a longtime Central Nova MP and former Tory cabinet minister, has long been a favourite to be the leader of the party. Speculation about a MacKay leadership bid has been in the air since he announced before the 2015 election that he was stepping away from politics.
Rumours came to a head in October when several media outlets reported that he was organizing for a leadership bid. During a post-election interview with SaltWire, MacKay dismissed those rumours, however, saying he was happy practising law and spending time with his young family.
"My life is very full and I'm not pining away for politics,” he said at that time.
MacKay was also forced to clarify comments he made during a panel discussion where he said Scheer gave away votes during the election by failing to clarify his stance on same-sex marriage and abortion.
Those issues “hung around Andrew Scheer's neck like a stinking albatross," he said, calling the party's loss “like having a breakaway on an open net and missing the net.”
MacKay later backtracked on the comments and said he continued to support Scheer.
Scheer ended his resignation speech with a call for unity.
“The party that we've built together is far too important for one individual. Our party is not a cult of personality, it's not shaped by whoever's name is on the masthead but by the hundreds and thousands of Conservatives who have pounded lawn signs, sit on their riding associations, and donate a few dollars every month,” he said.
“As our party begins on this exciting opportunity of electing a new leader, my only ask to my fellow Conservatives is this: Let's stay united.”